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Email Marketing for Beginners - 10 Ways to Reap the Benefits (While Avoiding the Hazards)

Email is a fast, cost-effective way to market your products and connect with your customers. Unlike postal mail, email allows you to find out how well your campaign did in hours rather than weeks. You can easily and quickly test different formats improve your offers.

However, there are also obstacles, such as whether your message is actually delivered, if your prospects can read it, and spam filters. So, how can you take advantage of the benefits of email marketing while avoiding the hazards?

1. Get permission first

The key to any successful marketing campaign is permission. You must have the recipient's permission to send marketing email. It's also a good idea to offer options on frequency of delivery, and types of products or services that you promote to each customer.

If you offer several types of products or multiple newsletters, give your prospects and customers the choice of receiving messages about only the things they are most interested in.

2. Personalize your messages

Messages with the recipient's name in the subject line, or in the email are more likely to be opened and read. Tailor your offers to your customers' prospects needs, based on past purchases, previous click-throughs, or even abandoned shopping carts.

3. Track clicks and actions

One of the advantages of email is that you can track everything: the number of clicks, the email addresses of people who clicked, the open rate, the read rate, and the number of clicks on your Web site. This data can give you valuable information about how well your campaigns are doing, and allow you to test different offers and copy.

4. Check your bounces

Every campaign will have both hard and soft bounces. A hard bounce means the recipient is no longer at that address. Names of hard bounces should be deleted from your database. This will improve deliverability, and save money on email deployment fees. A soft bounce occurs when the recipient's mailbox is full or the server is busy. Your email service provider will usually try several times over a day or two to deliver the message. If it's still undeliverable, remove the name from your list.

5. Code your emails

Use unique tracking codes and order codes to track response rates. This will help you judge how well your campaign is doing. The code can be a simple combination of numbers and letters entered into a registration form, order page, or lead generation request.

6. Pass it on

Unlike postal mail, email is viral. Include a link to allow recipient to easily pass-along your offer to a friend or colleague.

7. HTML or Text?

Not all companies accept HTML emails, and many that do, limit the size of the message to 40K. If you send HTML messages (with graphics and different fonts), keep them small and offer a Web or plain text option. The text option is also helpful to Blackberry users, who see HTML email as a jumble of codes and text (rather than the images you intended them to see).

8. Include multiple links

Place at least one link "above the fold" (or above where a user would have to scroll), one in the middle of your message, and one at the end. Make sure the links are clearly marked, as people tend to click on anything (images, large text, and actual links).

9. Use a landing page, not your home page.

Sending potential customers to your home page will only confuse them (causing them to abandon your offer altogether). Instead create a specific landing page. This is a Web page that repeats the offer you made in your email and guides your prospects through the process of registering, asking for your download, etc. Learn more about online marketing here.

10. Use your company name in the "from" field

The "From" and "Reply" addresses are important indicators that the message is from a trusted source. Use your own company name, and either the name of a specific person at your company or the name of your newsletter.

BONUS NUMBER ONE:

Don't forget to comply with CAN-SPAM email marketing regulations. Include a physical address and an opt-out/unsubscribe link in every marketing email you send.

BONUS NUMBER TWO:

Check your email for words or phrases that may trigger spam filters. Ask your email service provider if they offer this option. If not, here are two sites that you can use. Just upload the text of your email and get your spam score.

http://spamcheck.sitesell.com/

http://www.lyristech.com/resources/contentchecker/index.html

About the Author

Jodi Kaplan, founder of KaplanCopy, fixes "broken" marketing. If your marketing is costing more money than it's making and people leave your Web site without buying, your marketing is broken. For more tips, and a free 25-page marketing guide, go to KaplanCopy Free Marketing Guide.

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