Here is what we feel are the ten most important tips for anyone managing the email marketing process.
1) Only send emails to persons who have requested to receive them.
2) Only include content relevant to the type of content the person has requested.
3) Be consistent with your sending frequency. Pick a schedule, whether it is weekly, biweekly, or monthly and as often as you can stick to that schedule.
4) In most cases it is best to send business to business emails Tuesday through Thursday. We’ve found that the best times of the day to send are just after the start of the day around 9:30am or just after lunch around 1:30pm. It is best to avoid sending business to business emails after 4pm or on weekends.
5) In most cases it is best to send business to consumer emails either between 5pm and 8pm Tuesday through Thursday or between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.
6) To improve deliverability, add a message at the top of your emails that says something like: “To ensure receipt of our emails, please add something@yourcompany.com to your Address Book.”
7) Make the From Name for your messages either your company name or the name of a person at your company. Once you choose a From Name, keep it consistent. During the split second decision subscribers make whether to open your email, the most important factor in their decision is whether the From Name is familiar to them.
8) Be sure to include both a plain text and an HTML version of your newsletter. If you don’t include a plain text message, around 5% of your recipients will see a message with nothing in it.
9) Don’t use all caps or multiple exclamation marks within your subject line or body. Doing this will trigger spam filters.
10) Build your list at every opportunity you have. If you have a retail location, add a point-of-sale sign-up form. At conferences or events, bring a paper sign-up form or have a laptop with a sign-up form set up and available for interested parties. Finally, add your newsletter sign-up form to every page on your web site. You can use the sign-up form generator within Emailzo to automatically generate the code you need.
