Email Marketing is one of the cornerstones of online relationship building

Things have moved on a bit (about a million miles actually) since the days of rainbow coloured text emails and using the BCC field for your list while sending the message to yourself, although unbelievably some of these still occasionally drop into my inbox (bless!).

There are many excellent Email Service Providers (ESPs), including Mailchimp (we are fans & affiliates), Constant Contact, Vertical Response and AWeber. Which provider you choose is down to personal preference, but there are compelling reasons why you need to choose and use a professional ESP for your business Email Marketing.

Get More of Your Emails Delivered

Many people think that pressing ‘Send’ is all that’s needed to get their email message to its various destinations. Not necessarily so. For people still using their computer email packages, deliverability is unknown and open & click-through rates are unmeasurable.

Using your web domain host or shopping cart email service isn’t a guarantee of getting delivered either. These are OK for occasional mailings but messages are less likely to get through spam filters, so it isn’t a good idea to use as your main ESP, if you’re serious about Email Marketing.

The number of people reading their emails on SmartPhones is growing rapidly, so making sure your Emails are mobile friendly is becoming increasingly important. The main ESPs have this covered with special templates for the publisher to use and options to receive emails in a mobile friendly format for the reader.

Benefit from their Good Reputation

The best providers have a good reputation they’ve worked hard to establish. Not only for deliverability (over 99% is their proud claim), but also, importantly, for their adherence to the CAN-Spam Act, which they take very seriously.

I was chatting with an Email Marketing colleague recently and he told me the sad story of two clients who had their email accounts suspended as a result of using their computers to send out campaigns. This could have been as a result of the large number of emails going out, or because they fell foul of the Spam filters.

I don’t know about you, but the thought of being without email in my business sends icy shivers down my spine. It’s one of my primary communication channels and I’d really struggle without it.

Professional ESPs use a ‘double optin’ process to further protect their reputation – and yours by association! This process replaces the practice back in the ‘bad old days’ when you simply added all your contacts’ email addresses to a spreadsheet and sent out uninvited and unexpected promotional emails to them. “But wait,” I hear you say, “I still have some of those emails arriving in my inbox.” Yep, me too – and I report them as ‘Spam’ because that’s what they are. I didn’t ask for them.

A Double Opt-In is when you enter your details (usually just Name & Email address) onto a web based form, press Enter and are then taken to another screen with a message telling you to look out for an email which you need to act on. The email usually arrives within seconds and has a link you have to click in order to confirm that you really did fill out that form and want to receive the emails from that person.

The above are just a couple of reasons why using a professional Email Service Provider is so important for the small business owner. Check out our Guide for more information on Email Marketing, and please ask your questions in the comment box below.

I was chatting with a fellow business owner over coffee the other day

We went through the need and purpose of having a blog and setting up accounts with the various social networks where his target market were most likely to be, and then I asked him: ‘How big is your list?’

His answer was pretty much what I’d expected: that he had a lot of contacts but they weren’t organized in any way or stored in a central place, for example on an Excel spreadsheet.

The traditional way of collecting business cards at networking events and trade shows often results in a drawer full of cards and very little else. Even if these cards are put into a display folder of some kind, they still won’t be of any use for email marketing until they at least find their way onto a computer.

As I explained to my downcast colleague, in order to make the best use of email marketing, he really needed to have enough people to send his emails to!

We agreed that his best starting point was to create an Excel spreadsheet and manually enter the contact details. From there it will be easy for him to upload the data to an email service provider (such as MailChimp, AWeber or Constant Contact – and there are many others). When it comes to those drawers full of business cards, his options include various scanning machines & software packages, and he would do well to consider the newer technology Apps for smartphones, such as ScanBizCards.

A common list building mistake 

One of the problems I’ve seen recently with enthusiastic social networking business owners is that they’re so focused on building a following on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so on, that they seem to have lost sight of the importance of building an email marketing list.

Just think about how quickly those online newstreams, updates and Twitter feeds move down the screen. You have no guarantee that your followers are actually going to see your message, amongst all the other messages vying for their attention, let alone click on a link.

On the other hand, an email is a targeted marketing message arriving in each individual’s inbox. They will have given permission for you to send them such emails and, providing proper opt-in procedures are followed, the recipient has to consciously decide what to do with each message they get from you. While some people may choose to delete without reading, if the campaign has been well put together, your email stands a much better chance of being opened.

By the time we’d finished our coffees, my fellow business owner had written down clear steps to get his email marketing list off the ground and had an understanding why it was urgent and important to keep taking action and build on it.

What would you have recommended he do to build his email marketing list? Please leave your suggestion in the comments below.

When you’ve worked really hard to build your email subscriber list ethically

After you’ve dried your tears, take a look to see whether it is an isolated case or have there been others during the past month or so?

If there are more ‘desertions’ than you’d like, it may be worth asking yourself a few questions about your overall email marketing strategy.

Did you ask permission to send Emails?

As I write this post there are two messages in my inbox from people I’ve met at local networking events and who have added me to their email list. They didn’t ask if I wanted to be added, so technically they are spamming me. It is tempting when starting out on email marketing to go through your business cards just to have some people to send your message to. Tempting but asking for unsubscribes and even a few spam complaints.

Are you providing valuable information?

The reason most people stay subscribed to a list after getting the freebie they originally signed up for is that the information in your emails is useful and valuable to them. Quite often, even though they may not have time to read your message when it arrives, they’ll move it to a folder until they do have time. But they will only go to this trouble if you consistently provide good quality, valuable content.

Is the content relevant to the recipients?

For people to trust you with their email address, they need to be sure that the emails they receive will contain articles, tips, tricks, and resources relevant to their situation or business. Coming up with fresh and interesting content on a regular basis can be challenging (as we both know from personal experience!), but it’s important to always keep in mind the needs and expectations of your reader. If your emails don’t resonate with your list, they’ll leave, and sign up with someone who does meet their needs.

Are you sending out too many emails?

How many is too many? That’s one of those questions which is difficult to answer. I’ve been subscribed to some lists for several years and look forward to receiving emails from the authors. Because their newsletter content is so good (valuable and relevant, as in points 2 & 3 above), I don’t mind receiving quite a few promotion-only emails from them when they launch a new product or service. Everyone’s tolerances are different and some people will unsubscribe as soon as you try promoting anything. So it’s generally a case of trial and error – and keeping a close eye on the unsubscribe notifications!

Is the tone of your message right?

We both started sending out email newsletters in 2003 so have obviously had plenty of opportunity to monitor what works for us, as well as what can cause people to unsubscribe from lists. Assuming the previous questions are answered satisfactorily, then the tone in which the message is written can be a deciding factor in building a loyal and happy list of readers.

Surprisingly, it often isn’t the wonderfully informative articles nor even the excellent resources that keeps the open rate high. But using a more conversational writing tone, as well as including a few details of a more personal nature will have subscribers eagerly awaiting a newsletter. People like to hear about real people whom they can relate to and get to know.

Click here for more tips about Email Marketing.

What makes you hit the ‘unsubscribe’ link? Please share in the comments below.

Of course, I’m assuming you use Email Campaigns as part of your marketing mix

Please, please, use a reputable email service if you want your email marketing to work.

Unbelievably there are some business owners who continue to use their computer’s email software to send out email marketing campaigns, and therefore have no way of knowing how well or poorly received their messages are. These are the same business owners who howl with anguish when their email accounts are suspended for spam-like activities (ie. sending out too many emails).

We like MailChimp (Aff link) for many reasons, but it’s obviously a good idea to explore other providers to find the one you like best, and that has the features you want. (For the purposes of this post, and because it’s the provider we know best, we will stick with screenshots from MailChimp.)

Reports are important

None of us has time to waste! Sending out email marketing messages that people delete without even opening are a waste of time and effort. Campaign reports that clearly show what has happened to your messages are a must, whether you access them on screen, print out, or download onto your computer. MailChimp has a selection of reports, starting with a summary overview and drilling down each section into as many details as most of us will need to see.

What Do you need to know about?

Open Rates used to be the measurement everyone took notice of, but actually this isn’t always reliable. More and more people have their privacy options set so that images don’t automatically show when they view emails. By doing so the email service is unable to track the little piece of code it places as an image in the message – and the open won’t be counted.

Bounces can happen if a person’s inbox is full, or when the email address can’t be found (which could be because the person has changed employer). But only if you know there’s a problem in delivering your messages can you do something about it.

Unsubscribes are like a personal slight aren’t they? What’s even worse is when someone reports your message as spam or ‘unwanted’ when they subscribed to your list in the first place?!! Anyhow, it helps to be able to track what your subscribers are doing, where they come from and so on.

Click throughs from links you place within your message will help you to know how much traffic your email campaign is sending to your website, and are therefore a more important measurement than open rates.

It’s also important to be able to compare the effectiveness of different elements of your campaign, for example how well a particular headline performs, or find out the best day of the week to send out messages.

Take a look at our OnLine Marketing Tracking & Measurement Guide, which will help you find out what’s actually working for ALL your different online marketing activities so you can stop wasting time on what isn’t!

What have I left out? What email marketing reports do you find most helpful? Please tell us in the comments below…

Many of the members are local retailers and one of the biggest issues they’re facing is footfall, which is an issue with almost every high street across the country. Competition from supermarket chains is the other main worry.

Now I can’t fix these issues, but one thing many of the local retailers feel is that online marketing isn’t for them. I can understand the thought of having yet more to do on their list, particularly when it comes to running a retail outlet, but it doesn’t mean it should be completely ignored. I can understand that the last thing these retailers may want to do is spend time on Facebook or Twitter, and these activities may not be for them.

The one thing that they could do though is send out an email newsletter. If getting people through the door is a struggle in itself, then perhaps retaining their loyalty via email correspondence may not be a bad thing, it fact it could help encourage more shoppers go back to them rather than to the supermarket next time. The one thing supermarkets will never be able to beat is the customer service that small retailers can give, and even more reason why keeping those customers loyal is important. Plus there’s the cost of getting those shoppers through the door in the first place, so reminding them about your business isn’t going to be a bad thing!

I’ve visited many retailers (mostly chain stores) who managed to get my email address one way or another, and there’s no reason why this shouldn’t apply to local businesses with a single outlet. Collecting the email addresses is just a matter of asking people to complete a form when they shop, and perhaps an incentive of a discount or voucher next time they shop there.

Let’s face it, in the current economic climate local retailers need all the help they can get, and if it means they remind their customers to visit them more often via a regular newsletter, perhaps with a little incentive, then all the better! We don’t want to see our local high streets becoming ghost towns. I know this isn’t going to solve the problem but it may help just a bit!

What else do you think local retailers could do to get more customers through their doors?

If you’re not sure what a ‘cookie’ is, basically it’s a small file which may download onto a visitors’ computer when they access your site. They’re often used by website sites to track visitor returns and log in details (so you don’t have to remember them each time you purchase something from a site). You can read more about ‘cookies’ here.

You may also be aware that earlier this year, a new law was passed by the EU that requires users’ consent before cookies can be downloaded. The Government is looking for a workable solution to this law at the moment, so websites have been given a year to comply. You can read more about this on the BBC website: Cookie law deferred for one year.

You may be thinking that all of this is for big businesses, but it’s not. It affects all website owners, and needs to be taken seriously.

Going back to the privacy policy, if you collect data of any sort from people visiting your site, you need to let them know that you comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 (if appropriate) and the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Legislation of October 2003. You also need to mention if you use cookies on your site and what they’re for. Although we don’t carry third party ads on our site, Google Analytics uses cookies so we explain that in our privacy policy too.

You can read our Privacy Policy here.

The BBC website has a much lengthier privacy policy which you can read here.

If you don’t have a privacy policy on your website, then it’s important you create one. It makes your business look more professional and your website trustworthy for visitors, telling them what you’ll do with any personal information they part with on your website.

Business Link has more information on privacy policies along with a sample template you can use on your own website.

Image: cookies-009.jpg by yurilong, on Flickr

One of the challenges when you blog about anything to do with the internet is that changes take place so quickly and frequently

So it’s important for us to regularly revisit as many posts as possible to check the information in them is still valid.

When I was doing this here on Savvy Marketers the other day, I came across a post about basic email newsletter mistakes which I wrote 2 years ago. As I read through it, two things occurred to me.

First, all the mistakes highlighted in the post are just as valid today as they were then. Second, I’m seeing these very same mistakes almost every day in email marketing (link to product) messages that arrive in my inbox. How depressing

It seems a little reminder is called for…

Let’s return to those Email Marketing basics

1. Don’t send out your email newsletter or announcement as an attachment. Opening files that arrive in your inbox, even from people you know, is how most computers become infected by viruses.
2. Don’t send out your email newsletter or main announcement as an embedded image. Not only may some people not be able to see anything, none of your links will be click-able.
3. Don’t send people irrelevant mailings. If they subscribed to your list for business tips, don’t send them the new pasta recipe you just discovered. Stay on topic.
4. Don’t automatically add people to your mailing list without asking their permission first. Just because you met them once doesn’t mean they want to receive emails from you every week.
5. Don’t send only emails that promote your business, if you want a) people to stay on your list and b) people to actually open and read your messages.
6. Do use a trusted Email Service Provider (ESP) and not Outlook or other computer based program. We use MailChimp, and recommend it. Other good providers include AWeber, Vertical Response, Constant Contact.
7. Do provide a ‘one-click’ unsubscribe for people to easily remove themselves from your mailing list. If you make them have to do much more than click once, you’ll increase the chances of being reported as a spammer.
8. Do make it clear what you want people to do, eg. ‘click here’, ‘read more’, ‘get more details’. If you’re going to do an email campaign, do it with a purpose!
9. Do provide useful and interesting information, tips, how-to articles. Be generous and show your readers that you know your stuff.
10. Do check your mailings before sending them to everyone. Typos, spelling, grammar, formatting, links go to the right places. Check everything. More than once.

For more posts on this topic, simply type Email Marketing into the ‘Search’ box on the right, or click on the ‘Email Marketing’ Category at the bottom of this page.  You might also want to take a look at our ‘Email Marketing Guide’ for more comprehensive information.

What would you add to this list?

Do you take the same amount of care over your Email Marketing?

Just because email is quick and easy to send out, doesn’t mean you can afford to get into sloppy habits. Or that you can simply ‘throw together’ your campaign email or newsletter in the hope no-one will notice if it’s full of typos. Because they will. If you’re lucky, your readers will take great pleasure in letting you know there’s a problem; if you’re unlucky they will just quietly unsubscribe from your list. After all, who wants to hire a [fill in the blank] if this is an example of their work.

Don’t be paralyzed by perfectionism

On the other hand, if you’re the type of person who isn’t satisfied with anything less than perfection, and who is forever making ‘just one more tweak’, your problem is slightly different. In your case, you need to learn that a misplaced semi-colon is not the end of the world – you might find this post about the curse of perfectionism helpful.

So, once you’ve got your Email message looking good and checked for typos, you’re ready to send it, right?

Not so fast Speedy!

Step back from the ‘submit’ button for a moment. There are a few more important parts of your Email Campaign to double check before sending it on its way. Some are obvious, others maybe less so.

1. The From field and From email address
2. The Subject Line is brief and spelt correctly, and the First Name is set up to show correctly (if you use this facility)
3. If you’re promoting an event, double check that the date, time and venue or call-in details are all correct.
4. Your contact information is correct (ie your name, business name, email, web site, phone number, postal address)
5. You’ve included clear information on how to unsubscribe with one-click – and make sure the link works.
6. ALL links work (both in the HMTL and TEXT versions of your message)
7. Send yourself a test message. This will make sure you see the message as your readers will and give you another chance to check for errors. If possible, have a proof-reading buddy who will let you know if they find any glitches when you send them a test message. It’s always so much easier to find other people’s typos than your own.
8. Send yourself ANOTHER test after fixing any problems and changing ANY text. Bordering on perfectionism perhaps, but it’s surprising how some changes can have an unexpected knock-on effect on another part of the message.

Once you’ve worked through this checklist, it’s time to publish your Email Campaign – good luck!

What have I missed? What else do you check before sending out your Email Marketing or Newsletters?

If you send out an email newsletter

However, it’s at this point of the process that things can go wrong and your subscribers may never finish the process of subscribing! There are a few things you can do to make sure that the entire process is completed.

Most email providers allow you to edit the messages people receive during the opt in process, whether it’s a message on a web page or a message by email (usually both). You need to make sure you edit these messages to tell people they will be receiving a verification email, and also to ‘whitelist’ your email address (so it arrives in their inbox and not in a spam filter). It can be the case that the verification email ends up in a spam filter and never gets seen, so the subscriber never completes the process. People can also forget they sign up to things, even within a few minutes or hours of doing so with the endless distractions out there (life just gets in the way!).

When composing your verification message, it’s worth reminding the recipient again of who you are, explain the process they need to go through clearly, and don’t forget to remind the subscriber of any free gift they may be receiving as a result of subscribing. The opt in process may seem straightforward to you, but isn’t always straightforward for your subscribers and you can’t assume that everyone who subscribes knows about the double opt in process.

Finally your welcome email needs to be friendly, offer a link to any free download you may be giving away or tell them how they can get the free gift you’ve promoted. Also include some information about your business and a link to your privacy policy reassuring your subscriber that he or she won’t be spammed or have their details passed onto other parties. If you are passing details onto other parties, this must be made clear and the subscriber must have the option to opt out before they subscribe!

It really is worth using a third party email provider for your email campaigns not only to ensure your message arrives in the subscribers inbox (which is more likely to happen with a provider than using Outlook or similar software), but that you are compliant with the legislation that exists to protect people from spam.

How do you ensure your subscribers are actually opting in? If you’ve any tips to ensure your newsletters are white listed by your subscribers, please share them here!

Publishing an Email Newsletter is a big commitment.

Even if you only send out your Email Newsletter once a month, the publishing date will seem to come around very quickly when you’re busy working in your business. So what tends to happen when there isn’t a plan to follow is that the main article is hastily written and poorly formatted, you forget to include things or important links don’t work because you didn’t have time to check everything properly before pressing the ‘Send’ instruction.

On the other hand when you do have a plan for your newsletter, you’ll be able to thoroughly research your articles well in advance and make them even more valuable for subscribers.  And because you’ll also know a few issues ahead what the topics will be, you can jot down ideas and gather together additional resources – all of which will make the content richer and more in depth, and show off your know-how.

Planning ahead also means taking full advantage of the opportunity to include your latest promotions or notify readers about a forthcoming event. You’ll also be able to strategically plan how to share your newsletter on the social networks for maximum exposure and effect, as opposed to randomly tweeting or relying solely on automated updates – which may miss your target audience altogether.

Overall, you’ll feel more relaxed and actually look forward to putting each issue together, you can feel proud of how it looks and the great information you’ve shared.

Your newsletter is an ambassador for your business, as well as being an excellent way to keep in touch with clients and prospective clients – surely that must make it worth taking a bit of extra time planning?

Do you have a plan for your email newsletters? Please share what works for you – we’d love to know!