Mom’s Expert Advice on Email Marketing
Earlier this week I received an email newsletter from SubscriberMail about email marketing best practices. The fun thing about it was that, in honor of Mother’s Day this weekend, the column was titled, “Email Marketing Advice From Mom,” and suggested that “marketers would be wise to apply some of mom's lessons to their email marketing efforts.”
Here’s a digest version of SubscriberMail's, er, “mom’s” 8 lessons:
“Stand up straight.” Subscribers judge email on “what it looks like,” SubscriberMail says, so be sure to use an enticing subject line and show the meat of your message "above the fold."
“What if everyone jumped off a cliff? Would you do it, too?” The best way to build an email list -- double opt-in -- is perhaps not the most popular way.
“Mind your manners.” In other words, make it easy for customers to unsubscribe.
“If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.” Don’t just blast everything to everyone on your list. As SubscriberMail says, “Email only when you have meaningful content that is relevant to your subscribers.”
“Don't make that face or it'll freeze in that position.” (Personally, I love using this one at home.) Send email too frequently and your customers will make that grimacey face when they see the “sender” line. Worse, while they’re making that face they’ll be clicking “delete” or “unsubscribe.”
“Speak when spoken to.” You have information about your customers that they’ve shared with you during the opt-in process. Use it to personalize your email communications.
“Clean your room.” And your email list. “Sending email to bad addresses and expired domains,” SubscriberMail says, “can result in ISPs blocking your email.”
“Finish your dinner.” Meaning, follow through. If you’ve taken the time to create a compelling email marketing program, also take the time to make sure subscribers will receive it. “Keep the ‘from address’ consistent and from a recognizable person or company,” SubscriberMail says, “use spell checker, and avoid words that trigger spam filters.”
Just like mom’s, it’s good advice.
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