Creating an email list, and driving repeat business from this list is one of the most important things you can do for your business, according to Forrester research.
Statistics indicate that a huge advantage for businesses is that email marketing offers a 20% open rate, and only a .3% opt-out rate.
But to achieve these lofty levels, you need to play nicely. Responsible email marketing etiquette is essential to ensuring success using this strategy.
Inherently, one requirement that is not only polite, and logical , but a legal requirement too, is to obtain permission to send emails in the first place. This alone is the bane of many cowboy operators, and business professionals alike. In most circumstances, sending unsolicited email will get your email tagged as spam. Even if the recipients know you, this can be even more frustrating to them because it is as if a base trust has been broken.
Further to this point, don’t use pre-packaged purchased lists. If for no other reason, it is unlikely that those on the list will be receiving unsolicited email for the first time, and will probably delete or mark as spammed without even reading the headline. A more likely scenario is that their trusted email clients will efficiently file these under ‘Spam’.
If possible, use an email marketing tool, such as Mailchimp or Aweber. These offer inbuilt protections such as the ability to test and measure a campaign, as well as the ability to identify any Spam trigger words before you click Send.
Another oft-overlooked measure is to make your emails mobile friendly. Recent statistics from Markle Path show that mobile users can check their email 4 or more times a day. If the email is not mobile responsive, it will be ignored, deleted, or even marked as Spam out of sheer disgust. It is inexcusable to send non-responsive email campaigns. It is just too easy to do nowadays.
So without further ado, here is a terrific infographic from our friends at Vertical Response, illustrating the Dos and Don’ts of Email marketing. ENJOY !
Original Infographic sourced from Vertical Response
