Email marketing is one of the most effective weapons in a small business owner's arsenal. It allows you to market to large numbers of potential customers for a fraction of the cost of traditional direct mail. However, there's a fine line between sending effective email messages and spamming your client base.
Whether you buy, rent, or compile your own email lists, keep these four points in mind when developing your opt-in strategy:
Make sure that the names on your list belong there. Don't add the names of people who haven't agreed to receive messages from you. Sending unsolicited e-mail — known as "spam" — creates a negative impression of your company. Your ISP can even shut you down for this. For guidance on how to develop an e-mail list, read my 'Do it yourself' post.
Let your customers decide the format in which they'll receive your promotional mailings. Not everyone has an e-mail account that can process HTML and rich-text messages, and some people prefer plain text.
Give customers a chance to opt out of future mailings. Customers come and go, so don't be alarmed when someone wants to be dropped from an e-mail list.
Give fair notice to your visitors, if you harvest names from your Web site. Reassure your customers that their personal information is safe, and that you won't sell or distribute it. Develop a privacy policy, post it prominently on the site, and stick to it.
To learn more:
About Author Stewart Severino, a marketing consultant who specializes in helping business owners and company's with marketing and advertising utilizing different customer touch points. Stewart is the author of the educational blog covering the topics in online, mobile and direct marketing. To learn more about this topic please visit, http://www.maddockmedia.com/
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