Email Marketing 101 So, what do you really need? You need an objective, some emails to send to, a method of sending the emails, and finally a way to ensure your emails continually get opened. Below you will receive a brief lesson on how to do each. Lesson #1: Reverse Engineering - Starting with the goal in mind. There are two basic ways to make money in business: you can either decrease costs, or increase sales. You need to consider how email can do both. Here are some goals/objectives you can consider for your email effort: increased #’s and speed of customer acquisition; decreased cost of regular customer communication; increased purchase frequency; cross-selling and up-selling products, building brand loyalty (i.e. increasing the lifetime value of a customer). Of course, with some executive brainstorming, you could come up with other ideas I’m sure. But this should at least get your brain buzzing. *Important note: whatever your email marketing objective turns out to be, make sure it is measurable. After all, if you can’t measure your goal, how will you ever know if you’ve reached it? Lesson #2: Building Your Email List Now many of you might be thinking here, “But can’t I just buy an email list?" And the answer is, yes, you can. However, contacting an Email List Broker (a recommended step if you are going to buy a list) can add a significant cost to your project. Even then, it may be difficult to find exactly the email list you are looking for. So, why not build your own email list? It’s much easier than many people anticipate. And I’ll share with you here the best ways to go about it. Step One - Think long and hard about which target audience will best allow you to obtain your previously set goal. What information are you going to need to capture to ensure you end up with qualified leads? Income level? Workplace? Position? Married? Single? Family? Step Two – Think of the best channel in which you can collect this information. Generally the highest traffic areas of your company will work best. Whether that be at the cash register, on your web site, on your customer support telephone line, in your regular direct mail piece, on the radio or TV. Wherever prospects come into contact most with your company is the best place to start. At cash registers, you can place forms for prospects to fill out. On your web site, you can have any number of forms in any shape or size you want. For TV, Radio and Print Advertisements, you’ll have to direct prospects to your web sites or in-store forms to collect their information. *Important note: when you ask people to sign-up, you must ask for permission to send the prospect occasional emails for a specific purpose. This is called opt-in email. The email you send has been specifically asked for and therefore cannot be considered SPAM. SPAM emails are unwanted, and unasked for junk mail. Get too much of it and it will begin to build up against your company. And we all know that ill will lasts much longer than good will. So avoid SPAMming at all costs. Another good idea is to also include a Privacy Policy on the sign-up sheet. This usually states that you will never sell the person’s email address to anther company or share the information with anyone else. This allows people to be a bit more trusting and they will give up their email addresses a little easier. Step Three – People are not going to offer their personal information up to you just because you’ve asked for it. You have to offer them something in return. Here are some reasons people may be willing to give their email address to you: special discount offers available via email only; informative E-Newsletters; customer service/account updates; a giveaway or sweepstakes (works particularly well with items of high perceived value, but actual low cost to you. A digital camera is a good example because it only costs you a couple hundred dollars and you get a whole opt-in email list in return). receive statement/bills online; be part of an online forum where bug fixes, technical support and current issues can be discussed. Lesson #3: Sending That First Email & Keeping Track of the Responses. Okay, so now you need to send that first email out to fulfill your end of the deal. How do you do that? You can’t just use Microsoft Outlook Express and send it from your home computer. Most email service administrators will kick you out for sending mass e-mailings. The same warning can be applied to email programs you place on your server as well. All it takes is a few complaints of SPAM to your web site adminstrator and BAM! Your domain could be shut down. So, you need a web-based email program. One that can send all of your emails from a separate server, keep track of all the data you’d ever need, allow you to expand your email communications to discussion lists and moderated discussion groups and preferably even supply customizable web sign-up forms if you didn’t already create your own. Surprisingly, all this can be had quite cheaply. Here are a few web-based email programs I'd check out: Topica.com, VerticalResponse.com, FortuneCity. Lesson #4: Getting Beyond That First Email… So, you’ve sent your prospect the first email. You’ve fulfilled your promise and open rates have been high. Now you want to send more… But how do you keep reader interest and prevent yourself from becoming just another SPAM e-mailer? This is where you employ the Respect, Relevance, Response mantra I mentioned at the beginning. Always show your email prospect RESPECT. Always keep your messages RELEVANT . And then you will always achieve RESPONSE. RESPECT means no pushy sales tactics. They don’t work online. Instead be informative. If your deal really is a good one. And you have some proof to back it up, you’ll get the sale. RELEVANCE. Irrelevant content is the #1 reason for opting out of an email program. And it is so easy to prevent. Timely offers, and relevant information take care of most of your problems, but prospect interests will change. No problem. Just include an email preference form on your web site (and link it to your email messages). Here prospects can choose to receive emails on different topics if they so choose. Some will choose to be informed of upcoming sales. Some will want more product information. Others will want tips and tricks for using whatever gizmo they’ve got. RESPONSE Keep in constant communication with your prospect and they will reward you with RESPONSE to your offers. 11 Bonus Tips and Tricks For High Email Response! Your first paragraph or two should contain a mini-version of your whole e-mail. So instead of carefully spreading out your 4 P's (Promise, Picture, Proof, Push) or AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action), you should try to get all these elements in early. Online users have little patience in general and they need to know your whole offer fast. For readers willing to spend the time to read every word of your e-mail (God bless them), you can expand on your opening later. Just remember that less people will read right to the end than will scan your first couple of paragraphs. So include all your best stuff up front. ou should include multiple response options for your prospects. But ALWAYS remember to have a web-based response form. Many online users prefer to keep the entire transaction online. That way the user keeps control and does not have to worry about more sales talk or being upsold when they phone in. Limit the amount of click throughs in your email piece. Usually only the first 2 or 3 get used. The rest are ignored. Premiums still work online. Maybe even better. You have the opportunity online to animate your premiums in action or even make them interactive. Try this out and see how it effects your results. Sweepstakes work great online. This is because it is usually much easier for the prospect to quickly fill out their information on an online form than to fill out a paper-based form and then have to mail it. A headline is a headline is a headline. Start your email off with one that will draw your reader into the package. Try to make it different from your SUBJECT line. Your best benefit up front usually does the trick. Injecting a news feel and some self-interest doesn't hurt either. ALWAYS include an opt-out statement! The only thing more powerful than good will towards your company is ill will. Don't make any prospect feel like they've been spammed. Include an un-subscribe or remove statement at the end of your e-mail. "We here at ABC Company respect your online privacy. If you received this message in error or simply do not wish to receive further e-mails from us, please reply to this e-mail and type REMOVE in the subject line." For once, shorter is better. In Tradition Direct Mail (TDM), we all know that long copy generally works better. But for emails, brevity is the key. If some of your prospects require more information before they make a purchasing decision, include a click-through to an expanded version of your e-mail. Remember, with email you can use viral marketing techniques. This is not possible with TDM as you can not tell a prospect to make 10 copies of your message and then pass them on to neighbours and friends. But with email, make sure the prospect understands that your fantastic deal is not exclusive to them. They should pass on this message to others they think would be interested. Online users prefer free trials or bill me later offers to money-back guarantees. While online transactions are rising every day. Some prospects are still wary about sending their credit card info over the internet. They would much rather just send their shipping info. Try the product for a while. And then choose their payment option when the time comes.

Good luck with your affiliate sales!