This is the final post in my series concerning Effective Email Marketing. To recapitulate, we covered
- How to effectively build email subscribers
- How to grow email subscriber list
- How to write well targeted mails
- Stats you should be tracking for your email marketing campaigns
To conclude I would like to try and answer some of the most common questions that arise in this field of Email marketing, and to dispel any myths, if I can! So, lets get started:
What is email marketing?
From WikiPedia and I quote
Sending e-mails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or previous customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.
This seems to me to be a pretty complete definition! It is indeed a process based on emailing a list of customers in order to build a relationship with them, from which you can generate business…
Please note the keywords here: Relationship, Customer Loyalty, Repeat Business.
If you hold those themes in your mind as an email marketing mantra, you will give yourself every chance of success…..where many others fail! The biggest error of all is to bombard your opt-ins with sales letters, as if you just want to sell anything and everything to them. Remember they are looking for guidance, help, tips and a RELATIONSHIP! Give them that, and they will buy from you…..
Why email marketing?
From the above definition its pretty much clear that when you have some customers / users you can email them about your special offers and discount that you can offer to them and in turn make more sales.
To put this another way, why would you NOT include an Email Marketing strategy in your marketing arsenal? It is an incredibly powerful tool. Once again, we come back to “the money is in the list.” True, but only if you use the list and market to it correctly! Building a list can take time and effort, all of which is completely wasted if you do not look after your people, communicate with them, send them your newsletters and special offers…and make more sales than by practically any other method open to you!
How and where to set up email marketing campaign?
Choosing the right email Marketing Service Provider is your key to success here. In this series I have discussed you should be looking for in your autoresponder software. Feedburner over Aweber. A better alternative to Aweber is probably GetResponse, but in the end it is a matter of which software you are most comfortable with. I would recommend going to my Feedburner/Aweber link and checking that out before using Feedburner though!
One thing is certain: if you are going to run a list for email Marketing, you are going to need the services of an autoresponder!
Choosing the right Email Marketing Service Provider is your key to success. In this series I have discussed the features that you should be looking for with your email marketing software. There are of course many companies out there providing email marketing software. If you are happy with the one that you are using, that is a good reason to stay with them! One thing I will say is that many webmasters try to use Feedburner, on the very good grounds that it is a free package. However, there are drawbacks with using Feedburner, and I cover these in Feedburner over Aweber. Check it out if you are even thinking of feedburner as your email service provider. Apart from Aweber there are other as well like GetReposnse and many others. See if they provide what you are looking for because in the end it is a matter of which software you are most comfortable with.
Why does an email marketing tool require opt-in?
Because of SPAM! Everyone hates spam, and the vast majority of internet users these days just will not tolerate it, never mind buy from spam emails! Spamming can also get you into serious trouble.
If you plan to use any third party email marketing tool they will make it very clear that they will not email any user who has not opted into their system. This is to protect their own reputation, and to avoid being black listed themselves. Two things arising; one, there is a difference between single and double opt-ins Aweber will give you an option on this, and some guidelines which you should read very carefully. Secondly, there can be a problem if you move from one autoresponder company to another; your new company might require your opt-in list to subscribe all over again! The answer of course is to choose your provider and stay with them once your list is building and you are happy with their service.
Email Marketing – what it works for and what it doesn’t work for?
I cannot imagine an internet business that Email Marketing will not work for! The ROI – Return on Investment – may vary, and you do need to pay attention to your list and work on your marketing to that list. But, if you think about it, how can it not work?! As I said right at the beginning, having membership list of people who have already signed in to your product that you can then market too…in marketing terms it is pure gold!
Please do post any further questions or comments that you might have here and I will add my thoughts to the post.
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