Five Tips to Help Make Your Email Marketing Lists Really Work for You

December 21, 2010

Email marketing should be an integral part of your overall marketing strategy.  It’s simple to use, easy to target the required audience, recognized globally, quick to deliver, and can generate a fast response from your target audience.  No matter how catchy your subject line is or your calls to action, it will only work if it ends up on the computer screen of the right people.

Here are five tips to help you make sure your email marketing lists are working for you.

1. Give Them A Reason – Give people a very good reason for joining your list.  Sign-up for our newsletter is not going to do the trick.  Why should they?  They already know that by giving you their email address they will automatically be added to your list and, whether they want to or not, will start to receive some kind of electronic communication from you. You have to make it worth their while.  Depending on your business this could be an entry into a prize drawing, a comprehensive report suitable to their business, deals that are not available anywhere else etc.
2. Keep It Simple – Also consider what kind of information you require them to part with.  Keep it as simple as possible.  If all you really need is their name and email address, don’t ask for anything else.
3. Ask Their Permission – Ask people to opt-in to your list.  Now I know many businesses that don’t want to do this.  They have a long list of contacts that they have groomed and nurtured over the years and they are worried that if they ask them to opt-in to a mailing list, they will say, ‘Thanks but no thanks’. They might, but it doesn’t make sense to send something, email or otherwise, to someone if they don’t want to receive it.  We all know only too well how annoying it is to get a tacky sales call during dinner.  The same goes for un-solicited emails.  Is someone really going to buy something from a company that sends them information that they don’t want and didn’t ask for?
4. List Segmentation – The ability to do this will depend on how much information you have on your contact list but I’m sure you know at least if they are current clients or potential clients. If so, by segmenting your list, you can send a different message to each group.  You may need to send a different message by geographical region; have a segment for zip code, city, state etc.  Or perhaps the products or services that they have purchased in the past.  The more personal the communication, the more likely the recipient is to respond.
5. Keep It Updated – A list is a living being and must be treated as such.  If a lead becomes a client be sure to change that in your list.  Or if someone purchases a particular product from you, you don’t want to be trying to sell it to them again the following month.  I know it’s a tedious prospect but constant tweaking and trimming will make sure that the people on your contact list get the most suitable and relevant messages at the most appropriate time.

If you still need help fine tuning your email marketing lists or would like some assistance with your email marketing campaign just drop us a line or give us a call (866) 732-2271, we would be happy to talk through your needs.