Top 10 E-Mail Marketing Mistakes

Email marketing can be very cost-effective and productive if handled correctly. The proper approach to email starts with an ethical, well-thought-out plan and typically requires a little more time and effort than most email marketers realize.
Common mistakes include:
1. You do not have a permission-based mailing list. Unless you have the recipient's permission, you may be sending spam, which is against the law. Too many business owners take shortcuts and buy e-mail lists or compile them in unethical manners, such as harvesting them from the Web. Spam also hurts the reputation of your business. The CAN-SPAM Act provides strict requirements about what you can and cannot do; for more information, go to the Federal Trade Commission Web site.

2. Your content is poor or nonexistent. The more ads your e-mails contain, the faster people will hit delete them. E-mail marketers frequently send nothing of value to the reader. Just as people accept advertising and promotion in a magazine because they want to read the content, the same principle holds true in e-mail. You need to provide them with something that they desire. Interesting and topical content, albeit brief, should hold their attention long enough for you to market yourself successfully.

3.Your emails are full of errors. The amount of errors found in e-mails is astonishing — words

misspelled, poor grammar, links that do not work, and so on. These missteps, however slight, all signal a lack of professionalism. They can be easily avioded with some careful editing; don't let these avoidable mistakes happen.

4. You make readers jump through hoops. If you want someone to subscribe to an e-mail newsletter or sign up for updates about your product or service, do not make them fill out endless online forms, click through multiple pages, and provide unnecessary information. The more difficult you make it, the less likely they will be to subscribe. All you really need is their permission and their e-mail address.

5.Your "from" and "subject" lines are poorly chosen. Pay particular attention to the "from" and "subject" lines, because often people will determine that they do not know the e-mail sender and delete it immediately. Be clear: The "from" line should be the exact company or newsletter name with which they signed up. The subject line can be the name of the newsletter or a well-thought-out, brief headline that grabs their attention.

6.You do not test them first. Too often marketers learn the hard way — by lack of response — that their marketing strategy could have been better. E-mail newsletters are a perfect medium for testing different tacks. Before sending to your entire e-mail list, test out several subject lines, different content, and a few types of graphics and designs on a small number of people. You can tell how many e-mails were opened and which test group received the most responses.

7. You do not call to action. You can't get results without a clear call to action. Do you want the reader to go to your Web site? Print out a page and send or fax it in? Buy something? Whatever you want them to do, make it clear and simple.

8.You have not included landing pages. You need to pay attention to the key pages that people land on when they click on a link from your e-mail. All too often, it is mistakenly assumed that customers want to jump right to a shopping cart; in many cases, they are dumped on your homepage to find their way around. Take a lesson from Amazon — provide a landing page with more information for each product or service.

9. Your graphics are overkill.Too many graphics, slow downloads, graphics that overshadow your message, and attachments will turn off readers. Again, keep it concise and simple.

10.You don't give the people what they want. Too many newsletters focus on generic material or are all about your business. Give people something they can use — for example, provide information that makes them want to do business with you. Readers want to know what's in it for them. (source : www.allbussines.com)

Five steps for ongoing e-mail marketing success.

There was a time, not so long ago, when e-mail marketing was the Golden Child of the internet. Early adopting smart marketers realized the power of this new medium--personalized communications that were immediate, measurable and relatively inexpensive to deploy.
Unfortunately, the spammers of the world also recognized that power and exploited it. Even some traditionally ethical marketers were lured by cheap "optin" lists that could reach a million people or more overnight.
Have spammers ruined the medium? For those looking to use e-mail marketing as a first point of contact, yes. For those practicing relationship marketing, definitely not. People continue to sign up for e-mail newsletters and appreciate invaluable information they can rely on--especially information they may otherwise not be able to easily and consistently obtain in print.
However, like any maturing communications platform, the rules of the game are increasingly complex and require careful planning and strategic execution. Here are five recommendations for creating sustainable e-mail marketing success.

1. The internet is Darwin for information. Don't be a dodo bird. More than ever, people have countless choices when seeking information. Our information-driven economy has created an environment where people have limited time and attention spans. They can Google, Yahoo! and MSN, and once they find the sites containing information they're seeking, they can sign up to receive the e-mail newsletter. If that newsletter doesn't provide remarkably good information, unsubscribing is a mere click away.
Further, it doesn't take long to reach the e-mail newsletter threshold. There are only so many e-mail newsletters any one individual can reasonably consume. People have become loyal to newsletters that provide consistently good information and have little tolerance if a newsletter begins to lose focus or lack the quality of information they've grown accustomed to.

2. People have no time. Keep it short. Great e-mail newsletters are very digestible. Articles appearing directly in the newsletter should be relatively short, and longer articles should appear as an abstract or contain only the first one or two paragraphs with a "Continue" link that will take a reader to the publisher's website to read the full story. This practice allows people to scan the contents to quickly determine which articles appeal to them.

3. Avoid the spam trap. When you distill the legalese, the CAN-SPAM law provides some pretty common-sense ground rules for practicing e-mail marketing. However, this law will do very little to curb the spam onslaught. Therefore, don't expect corporate America or major ISPs to relax their spam filters anytime soon. Some tips for getting the e-mail to the in-box:

The "From" address should match the sending domain.
* Use an e-mail marketing provider or software that collects undeliverable e-mail and records this information so undeliverable e-mails are not reattempted on subsequent campaigns.
* Use an e-mail marketing provider or software that will scan your newsletter before sending to identify words or phrases that could trigger spam filters, giving you the opportunity to edit these terms.
* Ask recipients to place the "From" e-mail you use for your newsletter in their address book. This will bypass filtering rules created in Outlook 2003, AOL 9.0, and other e-mail clients and providers.

4. Get permission. All of your website forms (sign-up forms, customer log-ins, registrations, and check-out pages if you use e-commerce) are opportunities to ask people if you can e-mail them. Leverage these resources wisely. If you're using print-based direct marketing, direct them to the web so you can capture their interests.

5. Don't abuse your lists. Be respectful of how often you're e-mailing your recipients. It's important that you aren't sending e-mail too frequently with too little to say. Less is more. Unless your recipients expect a daily or weekly e-mail, one or two per month is tolerable. Depending on your subject matter, a quarterly might work better. (by Albert,david)

How Valuable is Your Email?

I'm not talking about calculating the monetary value of an email address this time, or even the lifetime value of your email subscribers.
Instead, how valuable is your email to your readers? Do you offer them something unique, necessary to their daily living, something they anticipate each time? Or does your email give off a whiff of "same old same old" or "buy buy buy"?
Put yourself in your reader's shoes and look at the last email message you sent out. Why would that reader ever want to get another message from you?
This is really the heart of deliverability. When you send email messages that your readers want to read, that they anticipate and that speaks to their needs and wants, they will overlook all kinds of problems just to see what you have said.
Getting to this Nirvana position is not so easy. In fact, you have to know your customers inside and out. Not only that, but you also have to make sure you do nothing to get in the way of your email and distract them from your actual value.

Why Email is Still Worth the Effort ?
No matter how often some pundit declares email dead, it's a fact that value-laden permission email does work. The latest report from database marketing firm Merkle noted these two key findings based on its annual consumer survey, "View from the Inbox”:
50% of respondents had bought something based on a permission email message, up 3 percentage points from the previous year.
50% also said a company that "does a good job with email" influenced their purchase decision.
Conversely, a negative experience can drive customers away:
32% said they stopped doing business with at least one company because of its poor email practices.
We talk a lot about how to improve your deliverability by using opt-in, managing your reputation, segmenting lists, optimizing content and testing, but it all boils down to this: provide demonstrated value in each email.
Promote Email Value Throughout the Relationship
It would be nice to think your email program's value would be so obvious that readers would see it in each message. Alas, we live in the real world, so we know we have to sell the value at all points in the email relationship, and even before it begins officially.
Promote your email value at these crucial touchpoints (Need more info on each of these? Find resources at the end of this article):
1. Your home page
This is your first chance to sell potential subscribers on your email value. "Sign up for email updates" and a link doesn't begin to hint at what they will receive if they hand over their email address.
"Join our site now and receive email-only discounts and advance sale notices" makes the value clear and begins to set subscriber expectations.
Not just your homepage, either, but every page of your Web site should invite visitors to join your party. You can tailor the invitation to suit the atmosphere of each page if you want. The most important thing is to make sure readers know they are welcome and that they will receive benefits not available to the casual site visitor.
2. Your registration page
This is your showcase, the best location to explain the benefits of signing up for email, including the kinds of email you send, how often and what the content entails.
All too often, though, companies who otherwise have an excellent email program give this short shrift. They rarely dedicate a page solely to the value of their email program.
Instead, they slap up a checkbox and a one-sentence value statement more focused on the subscription function itself.
These elements convey your email value proposition more effectively:
a. Explanation of benefits (what's in it for them)

b. Privacy policy (assurance that you'll treat their email address responsibly)

c. Preference choices (increases message relevance)

d. Sample messages (subscribers see what they're getting)

e. Links, images and transactions (subscribing, confirming, even unsubscribing) that work reliably each timef.

Graphic design that models the email message template to help readers recognize it more quicklyg. A thank-you page that appears immediately after subscribing that acknowledges the subscription, restates the subscription elements and the value of your email, provides instructions on how to confirm the request, asks subscribers to add your sender email address to address books or contact lists with directions for the major ISPs or email providers, links to key locations on your Web site and links to key areas including your privacy policy and unsubscribe form.
With all of this information, be careful not to come on too strong by asking for too many details up front. Get just what you need to start the relationship, and then go back in the next phase to flesh out a profile or preferences.
A note on add-to-address-book instructions: Your email template probably lists these in every message you send. Trouble is, waiting even for the welcome message to deliver these instructions is too late.
Instead, be sure to post these on your thank-you page. If you post them on the sign-up page, they'll get lost in all the other business your subscribers are doing to get their messages going. If you wait until you send the welcome message (see next section), this all-important message could get lost or routed to junk, and you will have missed a key opportunity to build your relationship with your reader.
3. Your welcome program
This is another opportunity that too many companies waste with a simple "you are subscribed" message. Accurate enough, but it does nothing to remind subscribers about what they signed up for and what value your message brings.
When you launch a welcome program, you capitalize on your newest and most enthusiastic subscribers. Enthusiastic, yes, but not yet engaged. The welcome program brings them into the fold and helps them get up to speed quickly.
It consists of two parts:
1. The welcome message, sent immediately upon confirmation2. The welcome program, a short cycle of emails that offer special benefits outside of your regular program emails.
The Welcome Message
This welcome message, sent immediately after opt-in confirmation, has become a generally accepted best practice for conveying value before you mail your very first program email.
The ideal welcome message includes these elements:
1. Subject line that welcomes the new subscriber2. Personal greeting if you capture name at opt-in3. Restatement of the email content, frequency and format the subscriber chose4. Link to privacy policy, customer support and unsubscribe5. Instructions on adding your sender address to address books or contact lists6. Design that delivers key information in text, not images. This ensures that the subscriber can view it in the preview with images turned off, as well as in full view with images showing.7. Links to any incentives you offered (use links rather than attachments that could trigger blocking)8. Link to your current newsletter or offer9. Invitation to return to your Web site to fill out a profile or preference page.
The Welcome Program
The optimum welcome program includes these elements:
1. The current newsletter issue or offer if you don't link to it in your welcome program2. The subscription incentive if you didn't deliver it in the welcome message3. Quick explanations of how to use your Web site or your service4. Invitation to fill out a profile or preference page along with a benefit statement5. Survey of subscriber attitudes and expectations to assess how well you're performing6. A subtle reminder of when the next message will be coming so they can look for it.
The value of your email program should shine through in each message, reminding subscribers of what they signed up for and that they need to open each message or they’ll miss out.
4. Regular Program Emails
These are the regular emails you send as part of an established programming cycle. However, if all you do is sell, sell, sell, you'll wear out or bore your reader. And, a bored reader is one that is likely to click the report-spam button to make you go away, especially if they don't trust your unsubscribe to work.
These elements help remind subscribers about your email program's value:
a. Email-only discounts (one-time or permanent, only for subscribers)b. Invitations to fill out surveys or complete profilesc. Directions on how to use products or to contact company repsd. Account statements, membership numbers and links to key functions at your Web sitee. Company or product newsf. Changes that affect their email subscriptionsg. Links to blog articles and requests for reader comments.
5. Transactional emails
Naturally, the first job of a transactional email is to confirm an action, deliver an account statement, ask for a payment or conduct other business. However, you can remind subscribers of your email value here, too, provided you keep the focus on the transaction.
To do this, put the business in the top half to two-thirds of the message content, then put your email value proposition and a subscription link in the bottom third to half. This is also called putting it "below the fold," a reference to a standard broadsheet newspaper page where the most important stories go up in the top half, above the fold.
6. Mid-cycle messages
You don't want to wear out your list by sending more email than you promised. However, a carefully chosen and timed message sent between campaigns, or in the middle of a publishing schedule, can restate and refine.
Use these messages to remind subscribers, especially less active ones, about email benefits or account details to bring them back into the fold. Invite them to update their profiles. Send a short survey. Offer incentives for referrals. Explain any program changes that could affect their subscriptions.
Final Word: Emphasizing Value is Easy
It might sound as if you have to overhaul your messages to make the value clear, but you might need just a simple retooling.
Put yourself in your subscribers' shoes again, and see where you can add information or functionality, improve design or boost convenience. Never waste another chance to remind your subscribers of all the benefits they have coming.
(Written by Stefan Pollard)