How small and mid-size business can succeed in email marketing

Email marketing is not a new concept now. Big, established brick and mortar businesses too have put their feet firm into this channel. Due to this, it is not very easy for small and mid-sized businesses to compete and move ahead of their bigger competitors.

The best thing about email marketing is that it is affordable. It doesn’t require much investment and hence upcoming business too can give it a try without fear. There are some important things about email marketing which a beginner should be aware of and experienced should keep practicing and following it. These are:

Sign up and Welcome email

When a visitor comes to your website and shows interest in your products and services by signing up, it is an email marketing etiquette to send a ‘Thank you and Welcome Email to him. Always mention your reverse address and opt out link in your email. You emails without an unsubscribe link is an intrusion without apologizing. Secondly, email frequency and the content need your close attention. In the very first mail that is the ‘Welcome mail’, clearly mention how frequently will you be sending the mails, 10 days, every fortnight, monthly, etc. Mention, also in the 'Welcome Email' about how frequently (say one in 15 days) you will send and the subject/topic of the future emails.

Opt-in list

Running a campaign with a poor list, with stale contacts is like inviting ISPs to block you as a spammer. Sending unsolicited mails to people who have not given you their permission to do so is against CAN-SPAM Act, 2003 and your shouldn’t practice it.

 

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Blacklist

ISPs and ESPs are very strict and ensure their clients are well-protected from getting spam mails. For this they install filters that block emails that are suspicious, don’t comply with their rules, and are not authenticated, etc. All such names, ip addresses, and domain are recorded under ‘Black List’. Once your name gets blacklisted you cannot send emails to your target audience till your name is removed from the list. This might take more than 3 months. Hence it is always advisable to send mails to opt-in lists only.

Email deliverability

With spammers finding all the notorious ways to enter to inbox, ISPs and ESPs raise their safety measures bar high and strong. However, the worst victims are those marketers who send emails to opt-in list but get suspected as false positives due to objectionable terms, phrases or other attributes. This abstain their genuine messages to reach to the target audience. Email deliverability is one thing that every marketer is struggling to improve. As a marketer you should:

Understand CAN-SPAM Act, 2003 for email marketing guidelines.

Authenticate your brand name and ip address by providing all the necessary details like nature of business, nature of messages you are going to send, and email marketing practices you are adopting.

Avoid spammy words that trigger the spam filters installed by ISPs and ESPs and your recipient’s mind.

Request email recipients to add your name and email address to their address book.

To know more about email deliverability and other email marketing tips...Must read "19 Sage Advices on Email Marketing!"

Other important things are list segmentation, tracking your email campaigns, etc. All these and more will be discussed in the next article.

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