We all do it —sign up for emails and newsletter subscriptions to our favorite stores and companies with the hope that we will benefit from receiving resourceful information or money-saving deals every now and then…

Often times as it turns out, however, those good intentions succumb to busy schedules and inboxes filled with items higher on the priority list.  When Monday arrives and you open up your Gmail account to find that you have 142 unread emails, most of them being from a store you frequent on a never basis, daily deals for the latest craze in yoga classes, and offers on that vacation to the French Riviera you’ve been meaning to take if you ever had time that wasn’t consumed by weeding through an inbox full of messages…what do you do?  You send those marketing emails straight for the trash folder without so much as giving them a second glance.

So what if you were on the other end as a marketer or small business owner trying to encourage a flood of business, build your brand, and gain the loyalty of a sturdy customer base with wallets dedicated to the product or services you have to offer?  How do you ensure that the emails you send don’t go unread?

Well, for all of you email-happy marketers out there…this is how it’s done:

What is email marketing?  First, before you shoot out a full on email campaign to thousands of recipients, you’ve got to understand exactly what email marketing is:

Email marketing is a direct marketing practice using the internet to communicate money-making messages to a target audience for the purpose of strengthening a relationship between a merchant and a current/potential customer or public venue. 

This form of marketing is used to:
•    Advertise deals
•    Share newsletters
•    Persuade recipients to purchase a product or service
•    Gain new customers
•    Encourage customer loyalty

There are three types of email marketing.  Check them out:

•    Direct email:  This method of email marketing involves sending promotional material designed to encourage the recipient to take action (buying something, signing up for something, etc.).  You may already have a list of email recipients, but you can also rent such lists from service companies that will allow you to send your marketing emails to their own lists.    

•    Retention email:  These emails are usually found in the form of newsletters.  Take advantage of this kind of email marketing to establish a long-term relationship with the recipient.  You can achieve this if you remember to always include information that is not only valuable and beneficial to the reader, but also entertains them.

 •    Ad placement in other people’s emails:  If you don’t want to create your own newsletter, you can instead find ones published by other people or companies and pay them to include your advertisement.  Benefits of email marketing. 

Here are some reasons why emailing customers and prospective ones can prove beneficial to your company and set you on the path to achieving your fund-raising goals:

•    Email marketing allows you to calculate an exact return on investment.     

•    Email marketing is known to be the second most successful method of online marketing (following search marketing).

•    You have the opportunity to reach a large number of subscribers, with the majority of the American population checking their email accounts on a daily basis.

A few helpful tips:

To get the most out of your email marketing campaign, boost your numbers and optimize your results, take note of these hints and your business will be sure to skyrocket through the roof:
#1:  Email the right subject line.  Email users will skim over subject lines piled in their inboxes and if you choose one that is less than attention-grabbing, don’t expect your recipient to open and read more.  The goal here is to motivate your subscribers in about 40 characters to let them know that if they click to open the message, they are in for some valuable information.     

•    What’s in it for the customer?  Make the subject line all about benefits.  The customer is concerned about what they get out of a deal.    

•    Don’t try to trick the reader.  The benefit you disclose in the subject line needs to be a promise that you can actually fulfill.    

•    Ask a question.  This is a simple way to intrigue someone to gain more info.   

•    Use the right words.  Some of the most successful words for enticing a person to open an email are:  giveaway, jobs, monthly, survey, edition, video, e-newsletter and tips.    

•    Don’t use the wrong words.  Subject line words that might get your message deleted or even reported as spam are as follows:  confirm, rewards, savings, offer, follow-up, Christ, magic, features, upgrade and coupon.  Also, you should never include dollar signs, exclamation marks or uppercase letters.

#2:  Email personalized messages.  Although you are sending out mass messages to a large audience, it is important to try to convey an individualized message to your recipients.  When you greet your customer by name in an email, the message feels much less like bulk mail and your customer is more likely to risk a click or two and check out what you have to say.  Tailor your messages to the specific needs of your customers—their interests, needs, past purchases, budgets, etc.  Another important part of personalizing your email marketing plan is to make yourself available to respond in a timely fashion (within 24 hours) to all emails you receive in return.  If you don’t open up a meaningful dialogue with your customers, you will do nothing but create your own demise.  To get to know and better understand your customers, carefully track and analyze their behavior and don’t be afraid to ask them questions. 

#3:  Email to the point.  Because time isn’t always afforded to going through emails, it is important to make your message short, sweet and to the point.  Begin by stating what benefit the recipient has and be sure to state the desired action.  Those receiving your mail must know what action they need to do to receive said benefit and what they can expect out of it.

#4:  Email links.  Email marketing tends to be more successful with fewer numbers of unsubscribes when there are several links throughout the body of the message.  Readers like to have options so be sure to hyperlink various key words throughout your email.     

•    Link directly to desired landing page.  Make things as easy as you can for your customer by linking them straight to where the email intends for them to go.  Don’t send them to a page that doesn’t clearly flow from your message to your desired action.     

•    Experiment with your link placement.  The placement of a link in your marketing campaign or newsletter can determine the success of your message and the rate of click-through.  Try to put your most important links first and monitor your click-through rates to conclude which links work best in what position.     

•    Include an “unsubscribe” link.  Subscribers who are unhappy and dissatisfied with your emails are worse than not having any subscribers.  This is why it will be in your best interest to place an easy to use link in your emails for those who wish to no longer receive them.  Email users receiving unwanted messages from you who don’t have an easy way to unsubscribe will contact you to do so—this wastes time, resources and unnecessary administrative costs if you have to take recipients off the list manually.

#5:  Email messages that can be archived.  Think about the amount of emails you have built up in your own personal email folders…there is a good chance that you have tons.  We all save messages that we consider valuable and refer back to them when needed.  To make sure that your emails aren’t deleted right away, it is crucial to include resourceful information that can be deemed useful by your subscribers.

#6:  Email mobile messages.  In today’s mobile world where we can’t imagine going an hour without our phones, it is important to ensure that your emails are compatible with mobile devices.  Avoid emails that are HTML-based as they can be difficult to navigate on a phone.  Also, stay away from page breaks and various text sizes.  Try using a mobile style sheet if designing the email yourself and to make sure your message content is viewed right away, keep the graphics to a minimum.

#7:  Email at the right time.  One very important factor to consider when distributing a winning email campaign is the element of time.  Remember the following before clicking “send”:   

•    A.M.:  Maybe you’re not a morning person but to get your message out, you’re going to have to avoid hitting the snooze button eight times before seeing the light of day.  Emails are most often read early in the morning, with the highest amount of email traffic around 5:00—6:00 a.m.  Click-through rates tend to fall as the day progresses but peak again late in the evening, with users checking their inboxes one last time before heading off to bed.  To guarantee the highest numbers of readership, schedule your mailing to arrive at 5:00 a.m. EST.     

•    Weekends:  You might not think that email users are spending their weekends obsessing over their inboxes.  But as it turns out, the highest rates of email-checking take place on Saturdays and Sundays…because of this, consider shooting out your campaign towards the end of the work week or over the weekend.     

•    No holidays:  As most people are busy stuffing turkeys, stringing lights and downing eggnog with their families, checking emails tends to fall last on the list of holiday activities.  This means that they may get your message when they return to their inboxes with a bunch of other mail that has accumulated…increasing the chances of your message being deleted without thought.  The best months to get your message deleted are December, January, July and August.  Now that you know how email marketing can help you succeed and you are armed with the best advice for doing so, you are ready to compose a campaign that will maximize your dollars and grow your business!

Author info:

Brianna Phillips is a guest post author who focuses her work on helping small business owners enhance their opportunities for financial success.  In her free time, Brianna also writes for adult dating sites where she shares advice on safe online dating and relationships.