Email Marketing

Email marketing, one of the most popular forms of online marketing, is a way to reach a wide audience (depending on list size) to promote or advertise a particular product or service. By sending e-mail creative electronically, an affiliate marketer can further promote a particular offer, whether it be a credit card offer or a loan offer, to a list of users whose demographical information has been collected over a period of time. This is a low-cost method of distributing information to a large list of potential customers.

Many Internet marketers prefer email marketing over direct mail campaigns as it is more cost-effective to electronically send out email creative to a large list versus mailing advertisements via regular postal service. In addition, there are ways to track an email campaign’s success or failure by reviewing statistical information that was collected after the email drop – percentage of email in-boxes reached, percentage of emails that were opened, percentage of emails that bounced or were sent to the users’ SPAM folders. An email marketer can then make adjustments based on this data to determine the best approach for the next email drop. With direct mail campaigns, the data is less conclusive and much slower to resolve.

Since the majority of individuals with Internet access have working email accounts, there is ample opportunity to advertise and promote a particular product. Email marketers who adhere to the Can-SPAM requirements and only mail to lists where individuals have opted-in or given permission to receive emails, will see the most success with their marketing efforts.
Ways to have a successful email campaign:

• Only email to lists that are current (6 months or less) or lists of data that have not received numerous e-mail advertisements from your company or other companies.
• Ensure that all users on your lists have consented (opted-in) to receive advertisements from you.
• Personalized emails (recipients first and last name) generally perform better.
• Ensure that your email is sent during a peak time, typical Monday – Thursday during normal business hours when most people are near a computer.  Your email may get less exposure if your email is sent during the weekend or over a holiday when people are less inclined to check their email.
• Make your message clear – refrain from wordiness or distracting graphics or images. Explain the premise of your email as concicesly as possible and use images that are appealing and relevant to your overall message.
• Always provide an unsubscribe link or a way for a consumer to remove his or her email address from your list.
• Make sure that all links work correctly and that there are no broken images.
• Do not abuse your lists by sending the same advertisements repeatedly. 
• Use subject lines that will draw the recipient into your email and avoid trigger words that will send the email straight to the reciepient’s SPAM folder.
• Since many recipients have the ability to check their email by phone, make sure that your email is readable and understandable in all formats.