If you’re thinking about implementing email into your marketing plan, or if you’re simply looking for ways to improve upon your current newsletters, I’ve compiled the key factors of email marketing best practices for quick reference.

The Basics:

• Build a permission based list of recipients.
• Manage the list.
• Define relevant content in the proper format.
• Deliver the message.
• Evaluate the results.

The Specifics:

• The message content should be created according to the results you wish to achieve. What is your ultimate goal? Is it to gain sales? Branding? To increase web site traffic?

• Once you’ve determined what your goals are, consider what format your message will be sent in. Do you plan to build it in html or MIME/Multipart? If you decide to build an html newsletter, format the code so that it’s clean and easy to navigate. This will save you a lot of time in the long run because it will help to prevent formatting errors.

• Avoid spam filters by checking your newsletter for content that could be seen as spam. Most email service providers can automatically check your newsletter for any content that could cause it to be placed in the recipients spam folder.

• Having an intriguing subject line is one of the most important elements of email marketing. Lack of an interesting subject line can cause your message to be left unopened completely and most likely deleted. Successful subject lines include an action phrase plus an incentive for the recipient. An example of a weaker subject line is – SFGate Newsletters: Great news and information. This offers no action phrase or incentive for the recipient. An example of a better-crafted subject line is – Save Big on New Arrivals at The Nest Baby Shop. It entices the recipient to open the message in order to discover what the new arrivals are and how much exactly they can expect to save on these products.

• Include relevant links within your email to accomplish your goal. If you want to drive more site traffic, include links to your web site in the copy of the newsletter. Promoting a sale? Give recipients a link to the special offers and sales page of your company web site. Keeping links relevant helps ensure people take action when they click on it.

• Always implement opt-in and opt-out. This means offering an unsubscribe button within your email so that people can decide to stop receiving messages from your company at any time. It also means offering a newsletter sign-up option on your site. To encourage web site visitors to sign up for your newsletter, offer them something they would not otherwise receive without being a subscriber such as discounts and coupons.

• Spell Check! And that doesn’t just mean running spell check on a computer. Actually take the time to sit down and read the copy slowly to yourself. Then have a colleague do the same to double check. Having a misspelled word in your company newsletter comes off as extremely unprofessional.

• Mind the length of your email. Most people don’t have the time to read a long newsletter, so be cautious of how much content you are including. Having a balance of images and copy makes your message more appealing to the eye and easier to read.

• Be aware of the frequency of your emails. Depending on the industry you’re in, set up a schedule that won’t irritate your recipients but will still keep your company in top-of-mind. For example, don’t send 3 emails a week about real estate market updates when once a month will suffice. This is a quick way to lose a lot of subscribers.

• Make sure your company name is clearly identified in the domain name that appears in the sender line.

• Clearly display your contact info in your newsletter.

photo credit: tamaleaver

Email Marketing cannot be commoditized.  Most people know just enough to be dangerous and don’t know when to draw the line or where the line begins.  Hitting the send button does not qualify as email marketing. If email was as easy as people think, why are their companies out there that solely provide email marketing services?  Attention must be paid to 1) best practices, 2) attention to detail, 3) deliverability and 4) list management and maintenance.

In the past two days, I have become a victim of receiving bad emails from professional service providers in which I am a client. In this post I’ll be providing two examples of how email (both personal and marketing) can go very very wrong and have an impact on your company’s brand and customers perception.

Example #1: Be Professional and Respect the Privacy of Others

I received an email today from a sales rep. The email was the 3rd email I had received about their free trial.  I had purchased their product months ago and even upgraded to a higher level but yet because their email lists of new prospects and current clients are not cross-referenced they were still marketing to me.

Email Marketing Tip #1: Have a well managed and well maintained list, cross reference, tag, flag, etc to make sure you have the most current information on your prospects and customers.  Email addresses are assets, these are folks who have already engaged with your service or company. Respect them, know who they are and address them personally. Don’t abuse email addresses or take new or existing customers for granted. Having maintained lists will also improve efficiency, effectiveness, and your bottom line.

Additionally, this email was sent out to a whole gamut of people and all of our email addresses were their for public consumption.

Email Marketing Tip #2: For internal/private messaging
Use the BCC field when sending to multiple addresses.  No one wants their email address shown to every stranger on your list. Be courteous and respect others privacy by regarding email addresses as assets. Email addresses are to be handled with care.

The email didn’t even utilize basic macro inserts for personalization (e.g. Dear Liberty…) it was simply just a bulk send of all the “L” email addresses. Making me believe that this guy was just going down the list.

Email Marketing Tip #3: Personalize your emails. Don’t be lazy, know who you are sending to, where they are in the sales process, learn why they haven’t purchased yet, or if they have take the appropriate actions to welcome them. Use a professional ESP (Email Service Provider) to send emails so you can track success and deliverability.

I replied politely to the email:

And instead of a personal response apologizing or saying they would remove move from the list and take my suggestion into consideration -  I became a victim of another fatal email mistake. THE ACCIDENTAL REPLY TO: email.

Company accidental reply (translation: I don’t really care about you or that you are an existing customer, and I don’t care to respond to you and actually let you know what we are doing to take care of it) I also like that he calls me a guy:

So naturally I respond to once again notify them of their mistake:

The result? As expected. No response.

Which leads me to Email Marketing Tip #4: Be professional.  Train your staff on how to handle customer communications and how to respond and represent your brand and your company. Especially with a troubled economy, where in recent years it seemed customer service had disappeared, it again becomes the deciphering factor between you and your competition.

I said two examples of email blunders. But I will save the next one for a different post.