Best Practices And Quick Tips

Avoid the Spam Filters

Many large ISPs are now using severe spam protection mechanisms to trap unauthorized email before it reaches their customers’ inboxes. Spam filters generally ‘rate’ each email based on a number of different criteria. If that email rates above a certain level (e.g. 10 spam points), then it will be flagged as spam and deleted.

Don’t get your email flagged as spam and deleted before it even gets to your subscribers. In your email marketing, try not to use words such as 'free', '$$$', 'save' and 'discount' in both the subject line and the content of your email.

Maximize Click-through Rates

Webpage or emails can contain a lot of text and graphics, which may sometimes make it hard to let your subscribers to click on a link or perform other tasks.

Researches find that most prospects respond better to a plain, bold, blue text link than to a banner or button. If you’re going to embed links in your emails, make them bold, blue and underlined. This can help increase click-through rate of your email marketing - meaning more conversions or sales lead for you.

More Responses on Tuesday / Wednesday

An online research has shown that the best days to send out an email to your list are Tuesday and Wednesday. People tend to be more receptive to communicate, which means, they would be more likely to read your content and click on links.

You would probably get a higher response rate for your email marketing on Tuesday and Wednesday rather than on the other days. On Monday, people are still recovering from a relaxing weekend. On Thursday and Friday, people are already in a holiday mood. And the best time to send out your email marketing campaign would be at around 2-3pm (American Pacific Time) on a Wednesday.

The Power of Personalization

An email marketing campaign with personalized elements would definitely call for people’s attention and attract them to open it. Simply start your email with a "Dear [subscriber’s name]," instead of the boring “Dear Sir or Madam,” you can increase both your reading and click-though rates. Addressing your prospects by their first name makes them feel like they already have a relationship with you.

An Attention-getting Subject Line

When your email reaches your subscriber’s inbox, you only have about half a second to catch their attention with the subject line. In your email marketing campaign, try to specify a benefit in the subject line that would make the subscriber read your email.

Enticing Offer - Free Bonus Hook-In

If you want to grow your mailing list, you should make a free offer such as eBook or discount coupon to your visitors when they sign up for your newsletter. In your email marketing campaign, set up an auto responder to send them the free bonus 1 hour after they have subscribed to your newsletter.

Email-Based Learning Course

Set up an email-based learning course can add value to your website, create trust to your visitors and establish your credibility, so to get more subscriptions to your mailing list. To do this, simply make a series of auto responders containing unique content in your email marketing campaign. Schedule the first one to be sent after 24 hours, the second after 48 hours and so on.

Always Include a Signature

Don’t forget to sign at the bottom of your emails, as it's one of the easiest ways to attract more website traffic. The signature should include your name, your title, company name, and an unsubscribe link. You can also embed links to your website or other products & services in the signature.

This is a sample signature:
Regards,
Anson Ng
Director - Company ABC
Visit our website at http://www.abc.com
Unsubscribe from this newsletter at http://www.abc.com/unsubscribe

The Preview Pane

Popular email clients (e.g. MS Outlook) provide a preview of an email when it's selected in your inbox. When you run your email marketing campaign, include some interesting content at the very top of your email as this is the part that will show in the preview window. If it’s interesting enough, your subscriber will more likely to open your email and read the content.

Link-Click Testing

When you create marketing emails, try to use different text for both content and links and also re-position images such as logos and buttons. Send about 3 different emails and compare their click-through stats to find out which one worked best for your email marketing campaign. Afterwards, when you send marketing emails in the future, you will know what kind of content and images attract the most open- and click-through-rate.

One-Click Unsubscription

If you want to grow your mailing list, there’re 2 things you must have in your email marketing campaign: a double opt-in process and a quick way to unsubscribe. In some countries, it's even mandatory by law that every email should include an unsubscribe link, taking the recipient directly to a page where they can be removed from your mailing list.

Signup Confirmation

Always use a double opt-in confirmation process to avoid yourself from being accused of spamming. After visitors enter their email address to make a subscription, send them a "confirmation" email with a special link to your e-marketing program verifying this visitor did sign up to your mailing list.

An Email Communication Loop

“Auto responder” refers to an email that is scheduled to be sent at a certain time interval after someone has subscribed to your list. It can automatically follow up with your subscribers and send them more information on your products/services.

For example, if you run a free newsletter subscription, you can setup 3 auto responders for the new subscriber. The first one will be sent 1 hour after their subscription, including a thank you message and a link to get a special discount for your new products. The second will be sent 24 hours after their subscription, telling them about your community boards. The third will be sent 72 hours after their subscription, offering them a good deal on becoming a paid member of your site.

In your email marketing campaign, set auto responders to help establish a relationship of trust between the subscribers and your company. It would be easier for you to close sales in the future.

Consistency is the Key

It is important to keep the look and feel consistent from issue to issue, if you’re running a newsletter program or frequent email publication. The consistency helps maintain and strengthen your brand image to the subscribers. Create a template for your newsletter and use it as the basis for each issue.

On Time, Every Time

If your email is sent on a regular basis, make sure you send it on the same day, at the same time (e.g. every Wednesday at 3 pm). When people have made a subscription, they are interested in reading your email and would ‘’expect’’ your message to arrive in their inbox on the same day at the same time every week. Generally, they will read the content and are more receptive to any offers or promotions you include in your email marketing campaign.