| The best kind of subscriber is one who opts in on their own. It’s understandable that when you’re a start-up company in your first few months of operation that you don’t have a distribution list yet and that many people may not know who you are yet. The last thing anyone wants to do is send something that might be considered spam, especially to a potential customer.
When you receive a company’s e-blast, you’re more likely to open and read it if you recognize the company’s logo and branding. When you receive a generic looking e-blast, you’re more likely to pass it by or move it directly into the trash if it’s not familiar. Adding your logo and a few touches of brand design to your e-blast campaign will help strengthen your brand and help recipients easily identify it as yours.
Diversifying is key. If your entire e-blast focuses on one product, service, or topic, you risk alienating all but the few people who will be interested. Unless you have segmented your database based on previous behavior, do not send an e-blast on only one topic.
Always take into account the appearance of your e-blast with or without images. For recipients with Microsoft Outlook, it is a default feature to have the images disabled. Even popular Web-based e-mail services like Hotmail now disable images. However, both offer the option of allowing images, provided the sender’s e-mail is in the recipient’s address book, and their ‘how to’ menus are available as well.
Each section must contain a specific call to action that avoids vague phrases like “click here.” You’ll be surprised how an effective call to action button or link can improve your click-through rate.
Be consistent in the time you send your e-blast for two reasons. First, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) see inconsistency as an alert for possible spam. Spammers do not care when they send out mass e-mails. Second, your customers will begin to anticipate your e-blast at a certain time each week, possibly increasing the likelihood of them opening and clicking through.
Best days of the week to send out an e-blast according to www.eROI.com:
Remember that many recipients will obscure a large portion of your e-blast unless the user scrolls down. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to send artwork back to the design department because the top of the email failed to grab your attention.
Finally, be aware of CAN SPAM laws and make sure you’re sending a legal e-blast. Congress passed the CAN SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) in 2003 to control the amount of spam e-mail sent. Legally, your e-mail campaign will be considered spam if they are any of the following:
- It contains a false or misleading header, such as name, to, from, etc.
- It has a deceptive subject line
- The e-mail does not allow a person to opt-out of receiving future mailings
- The e-mail itself must mention it is an advertisement and contain the sender’s physical address.
In a few years, e-mail marketers that don’t practice segmentation and personalization will be left in the dust. There are an endless number of ways to segment your e-blast list. Some popular ways are by purchase behavior, geography, or ordering frequency.
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