Tips For a Successful Email Newsletter Marketing Campaign

Among the benefits:

• Educating customers about new products and services
• Offering discounts and offers
• Maintaining a line of communication between your brand and those interested in it
• Instant campaign delivery and recipient engagement
• Sharing potential ("forward this to a friend" and "share on Twitter" functions)
• Driving traffic to your website
• A higher conversion rate than any other social media tool

Here are our top tips for effective email marketing campaigns:

Do not "Blanket Email"

Tempting as it may be, there are three very good reasons why you shouldn't send your e-mail campaigns indiscriminately to just any old list of e-mail addresses:

1. It's bad PR for your brand - when was the last time you appreciated getting a marketing message from an unknown company?
2. It's a waste of time - the success or "conversion" rate on unsolicited e-mail campaigns is 0.000008%
3. You may be reported for spam and your company email address/server blacklisted

It's really important that you only email recent contacts you have actually done business with (i.e. within the last two years). You should not email everyone in your address book - people do not want to be targeted with emails from people or businesses they don't know or have forgotten.

Make sure your email campaign is permission-based only. At Hallway Studios we make this happen by working with clients to ensure all e-mail addresses meet the following criteria:

Okay to e-mail:

• People who have specifically signed up through your website. For example, by ticking a checkbox (which shouldn't be nchecked by default) on your signup or sales form.
• People who completed offline forms & indicated they wanted to be emailed. Eg: By filling in a competition or survey form where they specifically agree to receive email
• People who gave you their business card and asked to receive email
• If someone gives you their business card and you have also explained to them that you will be in touch by email, you can contact them.
• They purchased something off you in the last 2 years. By making a purchase from you they have provided their permission implicitly, although it is much better to explicitly ask them.

Not okay to e-mail:

• Anyone not covered by the list above!
• Lists or email addresses received from a third party. This includes any list you bought or rented, got from a partner or membership organisation. No matter the claims of the source of this list, you cannot send email to them.
• Addresses you collected or "copy & pasted" from the Internet
• Even if they look like ideal customers for you, you can't email someone just because you found their address.
• Addresses you haven't emailed in the last 2 years. Permission doesn't age well. Even if you got their permission legitimately, they won't remember giving it to you. If you haven't sent something to that address in the last 2 years, you can't start now.

Personalise, Personalise, Personalise

Who doesn't want to be known by their name? Make your email newsletter campaign personal by including the recipient's name in the title, and within the e-mail message itself.

Segment your subscriber list. Here's some ideas:

• Gender/demographics,
• Location,
• Number of previous purchases,
• Type of contact (business/personal),
• Average revenue per sale,
• Origin (e.g. how they got on your list)

Get specific! Once you set up a good segmentation strategy, you'll easily be able to create laser focused campaigns and enjoy a hugely increased success rate!

Be clear about your message

Create a clear call to action in your email marketing campaign. Make sure recipients of your email marketing message know what you expect them to do (and what they can expect in return).
Keep your campaign content short, friendly and to the point. Most people will just move on to the next e-mail in their inbox if they see an essay in front of them.

Make it look fabulous

Invest in professional web design and have a template created for your campaigns. You'll stand out amongst the majority of dull e-mails, and look far more credible.

Be passionate

Be passionate and enthusiastic about what you have to offer. Only promote quality products, services or content and when composing your email marketing messages.

Use the right e-mail marketing software

Do not send an email campaign from your personal email account, or just by using standard e-mail software such as Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. Without the proper e-mail campaign software, there will be no mechanism for managing subscriber lists and segments, automatic unsubscribe management or message personalisation. Plus, you won't enjoy the benefits of real time campaign reporting. For instance, the web-based Lightning software we provide to our own clients provides access to archived or real-time campaign reports any time of day or night.

Interested in setting up an effective e-mail marketing strategy? Get in touch today and we'll help you get started.