If you market your business via email, you can reach people on a more personal level – giving you a significant advantage. The thing you have to know about email marketing is that with more knowledge and experience comes more skill. Trial and error and split testing are all part of the journey to success. Having said that, what can you do to get people to open and respond to your marketing tactics? Let’s find out.
A very common pitfall that most email marketers dive right into is campaigning to people that have not signed up to receive their newsletters. Never try to send emails off randomly to people that haven’t signed up to get them. You must always have a customer’s permission first if you really want to establish rapport. The reason for this is very simple. If you do not have their permission, then you are basically sending them spam emails.
If you get enough people marking your messages as spam and complaining about your emails, then you may end up on one of the big spam lists. These lists will make it nearly impossible, if not impossible, for you to get your emails read because they will end up in the spam folders instead of the inbox. This may also ruin the reputation of your domain and from then on, it’s just a downward spiral – the blacklist. Some great websites to check if you have been blacklisted are:
- BlackListAlert [http://www.blacklistalert.org/] – If you’re not blacklisted you should see a green ok.
- MX Toolbox [https://mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx] – If you’re not blacklisted you should see a green ok. The great thing about MX Toolbox is that it also gives you the reason for your blacklisting.
- BlackListMonitoring [http://www.blacklistmonitoring.com/] – If you’re not blacklisted you should see a green not found.
Make sure that every email you send out has something that your readers can benefit from. You could include coupons or just include information that is interesting, sort of like a mini-blog email, or even better you could briefly summarize your topic in the email and then link to your blog. One bullet, two shots. Composing an email whose subject is purely about buying from you is going to probably make people uninterested after a while.
If you’re having trouble coming up with interesting content, see if you can hire someone to write for you. Just do a search online for freelancers and you should be able to find sites that allow you to securely deal with getting the job done. Usually, these freelancers get paid per deliverable or by the word, but if it’s going to propel your profits, then it’s worth every penny.
Another method of getting prospects to sign up for your newsletters is to invite them to come to the website that you run. If you don’t already have a website, then you’re going to need to get one fast. The reason? People need to know where to get more information and to possibly buy something. You should also include an easy way to get a hold of you in case people feel the need to ask a question. When they see a real person behind the text or HTML, rest assured you would have gained at least +1 in trust points.
Email marketing has long been a great way to make people interested in whatever business is selling. If you make use of the above tips, you will surely have a better shot at converting potential customers into paying customers. It will take a little bit of effort and time, but you’ll come out on top in the end with patience and strategic planning.
Are you ready to make money while you sleep?
