Top 10 Email Marketing Do’s and Don’ts (Part 1 of 2) by Jae-ann Rock

When DONE CORRECTLY, email marketing can be a highly effective way to:

• Generate leads
• Boost sales
• Build brand loyalty
• Increase website traffic
• Nurture leads over time

This week, in part one of a two-part series, let’s review the top 10 email marketing “Do’s” to help you achieve success in your email campaigns.

10 Tips to Maximize Email Marketing Success

1. Follow all CAN-SPAM Laws. Within your email content, be sure to include:
   • Your physical address
   • Email address
   • Phone number
   • Ability for the recipient to easily unsubscribe from your email campaigns
2. Develop an Email Marketing Strategy
   • Determine goals/objectives.
   • Identify hot topics of interest to your target industry (see #5 for more ideas).
   • Create an email marketing schedule and stick to it. Remember: Consistency is the key.
   • Sending an email once a month is a great start; twice a month is even better.
   • Be sure your email marketing strategy is linked to your sales strategy and goals.
3. Use a Current, High-Quality List
   • Use a high-quality, targeted email marketing list with accurate information
   • Be sure to send to enough people in your target market to achieve desired results. (Note: With an average email open rate of 10%, combined with an average 5% click-through rate, a list of 1000 contacts will yield only 5 “interested” people. So, be certain you are using a large enough email marketing database in the first place!)
   • Always keep your email marketing list current.
   • Remove all unsubscribes and bounces from your list after each email campaign.
4. Use an Email Marketing System
   • Use an email marketing system (e.g. MailChimp), designed to track all email activity, including opens, clicks, and unsubscribes.
   • Leverage email marketing automation tools to improve marketing efficiency.
   • Create workflows to automatically nurture interested leads using “hot list” triggers. (i.e. the number of times a contact opens your emails; the number of times they click on certain links, etc.)
5. Create Value-Added content (versus SALES content)
   • Develop educational, thought-leadership content the reader will find helpful in their business.
   • Write about industry trending topics.
   • Take a controversial stance on something to get the reader’s attention.
   • Think from the recipient’s perspective. What interests your readers? What kind of content would YOU OPEN? (On the flip side: What makes you delete an email? What makes you unsubscribe?)
6. Create a Compelling Subject Line
   • This is critical! Have a powerful, interesting subject line that builds curiosity.
   • Keep it short and sweet for ease of mobile reading: Aim for simple/concise text.
   • Use a number in your subject line. (e.g. “Top 5 Ways to Improve Email Marketing Results”) Numbered lists entice people to open emails.
   • Try something controversial.
   • Avoid using SPAM-trigger words or all caps in your subject line. (Do not use words including: Free, offer, trial, clearance, sale, buy, order, click, call, deal, guarantee, compare, sign up, urgent, open, opt-in, etc.)
7. Use an “Email Teaser”
   • Do not give away the whole article in your email campaign. Provide just enough information, an “email teaser,” so readers will be enticed to “Click to read more.”
   • Include trackable links where people must “Click to read the full article” (This is the only way you will know who is actually engaging with your content!)
   • Make the message personalized and relevant – Use the person’s first name.
   • Keep the content short and EASY to read – Use bullets and bolded text.
   • Include a SINGLE, CLEAR call to action. (e.g. “Click here to read article.” or “Click here to register for webinar.”)
   • Use a simple email template design without too many graphics which can get caught in SPAM filters.
8. Test Messages
   • Test your email messages on various popular email systems to be sure your content looks good across a variety of platforms.
9. Measure, Analyze, Tweak
   • Use Trackable links to track and measure opens, clicks, and unsubscribes to see what works well and what doesn’t.
   • Continue to test, analyze results and tweak your campaigns based on results.
   • Try different topics, subject lines, frequency, email templates, marketing lists, etc.
   • Always seek to improve results.
10. Make it Mobile Friendly
    • 55% of email is now opened on a mobile device.
    • Be sure your email design fits the screen.
    • Keep the word length short and manageable.
    • Ensure the loading time doesn’t take forever.
    • Keep up with changes in technology to ensure optimal results.

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