Chances are, you have an “Email Signup” box throughout your website. You like new subscribers because now they are “leads,” not just another visitor. But, what value are you reallyadding to your potential (and current) customers thru the regular email updates?
Segmentation
2010 is a year when segmentation is de-facto standard of email communication. Many still seem to be trying to catch up. If you’re not segmenting, you’re losing subscribers, money, and time.
Thru simple segmentation, you’ll be able to insure:
- Less emails are received by any given subscriber, but emails are more relevant
- Subscribers, statistically, are at least likely to be interested in the updates you send out
- Less spending with a higher conversion rate
- Increased subscribed satisfaction
People & Tools
Avinash Kaushik, current Google Analytics Evangelist, wrote in his “Web Analytics: An Hour A Day”, that you should invest 90% on people/person and 10% on web analytics tool. Tools are just tools until someone gets to use them at a full potential. Please don’t make a mistake that by investing thousands of dollars in a new Email Marketing package your response rate, conversion, and customer satisfaction will go up. Nope! Just make sure you get the best person for the job.
General Best Practices
- Provide “preheader” — a small block in the beginning of the email, which tells people what this email is about. Brief, plain text, and accessible for people on mobile devices
- Provide alternatives in case main reason of the email is uninteresting to your subscriber
- Write good HTML when formatting your emails so receivers can preview content before clicking “download images”
- Don’t have spammy subject lines or offers
Examples of Bad Email Marketing:
- One day sale on a department store’s website (I read email after offer has expired)
- Offers on women’s clothing from a popular brand (after I repeatedly click on “Shop Men” in the previous emails)
- Better discount on a product I have just purchased and not yet received (I called CS and got the difference back). Also goes for the free shipping offers, upgrades, etc.
Slavik blogs about online marketing, user experience, search engine optimization, and mobile. Co-founder of Volinsky Consulting — web design & user experience company in Albany, NY. He's on Google+ and on twitter:
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