We all hate e-mail spam, right? I even have the coolest software program that
will help you combat spam and actually bounces the spam e-mail straight back to
the user.
However, one thing that we often fail to admit (except in private) is the importance
of permission e-mail marketing, where the members of your mailing list have given
you permission to contact them, or where they're past customers of yours. Obviously,
these e-mail lists are always opt-out, so if someone chooses not to continue receiving
information from you, they can easily get removed from the list.
"E-mail marketing is fast, effective and dirt cheap -- a godsend for marketers
in an economy that has crunched advertising budgets."
". . . the humble medium of e-mail is blossoming while flashier forms of Internet
advertising are going the way of the Pets.com sock puppet."
"Little wonder that old-line companies like Ford and Procter & Gamble are joining
early users of targeted e-mail pitches like Amazon.com and J. Crew."
Can we trust Time Magazine? I do believe we can! They're a highly trusted magazine
and have been for years and years. Time is clearly going on the record of saying
that permission e-mail marketing is one of the most valuable means of making sales
on the Internet, but only if done properly.
In the words of Stephen Mahaney, "If you have yet to 'correctly' integrate 'permission
email marketing' into your online business plan, then you risk being thwarted by
your competitors that do. It's just that plain and simple."
So, while spam e-mail should always remain locked tightly in a closet (NEVER
to be let out), permission e-mail marketing is a crucial way for you to keep in
touch with your customers and those interested in your products or services.
Let's look at five effective permission e-mail marketing strategies, tips that
many Webmasters fail to do, and they ultimately lose business because of it.
1. If someone writes for information on your goods or services, save those e-mail
addresses! Remember that sales aren't always made the first time someone hears of
a service or product. One trusted source told me that you have to hear about a product,
service, or company at least twenty times before you begin to trust that company
enough to do business with them.
2. Set up an online form where people can sign up with their names and e-mail
addresses to receive a copy of your monthly or quarterly newsletter or updates to
your site, or to ask you questions. Have the information go straight into a database
that contains the e-mail addresses of everyone who has written to you for information.
Then, create a newsletter that is not just a sales pitch for your products and services.
Offer valuable tips to your potential customers. Give the newsletter true value,
and those potential customers will begin to look forward to hearing from you. Then,
when it's time for them to purchase the types of goods or services that you offer,
who do you think they'll go to? The company they can trust: you!
3. Respond to your e-mail or to the questions asked on the form within 24 hours,
if not sooner. When people go online looking for something, they usually send e-mail
out to 5-6 companies. If your company is the first to respond, and if you've taken
the time to answer the questions professionally and thoughtfully, you'll have a
jump over those other companies, many of which won't even answer the e-mail at all.
4. Always provide a way to "opt-out" of your e-mail list. Make it very clear
how your subscribers can choose not to receive the newsletter or e-mail any longer,
and then immediately unsubscribe them when they write to you. Remember: having permission
to send the e-mail in the first place by only adding those who have contacted you
and expressed an interest in your product, and giving those people a way to get
off your mailing list, will differentiate you from the millions of e-mail spammers
that have given e-mail marketing such a bad name.
5. Take time in creating your subject line for your e-mail marketing campaign.
Make sure it doesn't sound "spammy" in any way. Including your name or company name
is a possibility, as well as describing the focus of the e-mail. With these new
e-mail programs that combat spam, if you use a subject line like, "We've got GREAT
news for you!" or "Hi, Friend!," you can expect the e-mail to be deleted without
ever making it to your potential customer.
How can you learn effective permission e-mail marketing strategies?
Stephen Mahaney attributes much of his online success to effective permission
e-mail marketing. He's even gone so far as to write a course on the subject, which
I've personally reviewed. It offers a step-by-step approach on how to create an
effective permission e-mail marketing list and how to market to that list. The course
even comes packaged with a full version software program for merging each message
with the people on your list so they'll each get a personalized e-mail.
