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Get email marketing best practices delivered to your inbox
As an email marketer, you're all too familiar with how many different moving parts you have to keep track of to do your job. From CAN-SPAM to false positives to preview panes, you have plenty of email marketing challenges.
The ClickMail Marketer can help. Each month we’ll send you a nugget or two on email marketing best practices. We'll keep up with the tricks and trends you need to know to improve your email marketing ROI and pass that information along to you in this brief, easy-to-read Newsletter.
We'd also like to hear from you! We encourage you to send your request(s) for coverage of specific email marketing topics, or any questions you may have, to Newsletter@clickmailmarketing.com. We will include your requests, and the relevant information that you seek, in future issues of The ClickMail Marketer.
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11 Tips for Building Your In-house Email List |
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 Your email list is ideally one you've built, not bought or rented. That's because an in-house email list is made up of people who want to hear from you. It’s quality over quantity. And you're better off emailing 1,000 people who said "yes, please email me" than 10,000 who never consented and might consider you spam.
There is a downside to an in-house email list, however: It can take a while to grow, and it might not be the numbers you want as quickly as you want. But it’s worth it! (Quality, remember?) To help you grow your list, we offer 11 tips:
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Make sure your content is relevant, useful and worth sharing |
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Add a signup page to your Web site and sell the idea of signing up on that page. State the frequency, what they can expect to get, and the benefits of signing up |
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If you publish an email Newsletter, include a sample issue on your site so they can get a taste
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Include a link to the email signup page on every page of your Web site. (Do not just have a box for an email address to be entered, expecting people will sign up without being sold on the idea) |
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Include a forward-to-a-friend link in every marketing email or email newsletter you send out, to encourage people to forward your emails to their colleagues or friends |
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Promote email signups in your offline materials too. For example, a retailer could create a printed card or flyer to include with every order shipped, or she could promote email signups in a catalog or other mailings |
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Include a link to the email signup page in your company's email signature |
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Have your sales people, customer service people, and anyone else who comes into contact with customers ask if they'd like to sign up for emails |
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Include a pitch for signing up and a link to the signup page in all your transactional email |
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Test using an incentive for signing up; as an example, offer a discount, printable coupon or even a special report |
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Make it easy to sign up! Ask for as little information as possible, knowing you can get more information later |
As you build your list, treat it like the priceless asset it is. Respect the people on the list. Don’t over-message them or share, rent or sell your list. They trusted you with their email addresses. Stay trustworthy and they’ll stay on that list. | |
 Tip of the Month - Deliverability Tip:
Email Authentication
Make sure you have a Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record. An SPF record allows your organization to state which mail servers are authorized to send email on your behalf from your domain. It can "prove" whether a message claiming to be from your company really is from your company. And it can improve your deliverability rate as more and more ISPs use SPF records as a way to filter spam. Learn more at http://www.openspf.org/ or email us with questions.
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