E-mail Marketing: 7 Basic Principles of E-mail Marketing

As per Wikipedia’s definition, “E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail or email as a means of communicating commercial campaign messages to an audience. In its broadest sense, every e-mail sent to a potential or current customer could be considered e-mail marketing.”

E-mail marketing is done by many online entrepreneurs to enhance their relationship with their prospects as well as with their current customer base. The main purpose of e-mail marketing is to acquire new customers and convince them to purchase your products and services.

Marketing has come a long way compared to how it was described in books. Nowadays there are various ways wherein a person or entrepreneur can market his or her product or service.

Now that the technology has grown by leaps and bounds e-mail marketing became one of the most popular strategies to market a product.

One of the advantages of e-mail marketing is that you do not have to a design professional to produce great-looking campaigns. There are a lot of e-mail marketing providers out there who offer a pre-designed template that an entrepreneur can choose from, which makes e-mail marketing very convenient. However, without graphics or engraving to enhance your message, what you say and how you say it matters even more than in print communication.

Here some tips you can use to better e-mail marketing:

1. E-mail marketing should involve critical thinking before you write. Before writing, note down your main points or the main purpose of your e-mail. Make a decision as to what is most important and lead with that, include that point in your first paragraph if possible.

When doing e-mail marketing it is crucial that you do not leave any important information behind (second page). A lot of readers hate to scroll and may not get past the first screen so leaving any information for the second screen is not good when it comes to e-mail marketing.

2. When doing e-mail marketing keep the preview pane in mind. In a recent study done by Marketing Sherpa states that 70 percent of e-mail marketing recipients that have the capability to read e-mail through a preview pane do.

This means that subscribers may only see a portion of your e-mail marketing material before deciding to open it and look at it in its entirety. Make sure your business / company logo, as well as some inviting information about the e-mail contents can be seen in the preview pane.

3. E-mail marketing requires an informative subject line. Anticipate your main message by writing a subject line that announces what you are writing (request, announcement, etc.) and what about.

Readers use the subject line to perform e-mail triage. A good subject line announces whether the message you are sending is relevant or urgent. A vague subject line invites the reader to ignore or delete the message.

4. In e-mail marketing it is important that you state your point clearly and quickly. When it comes to e-mail marketing, get to the point quickly. The reality is that most people scan.

Your e-mail marketing material only has a few seconds to capture your reader’s attention. If it takes much longer than that for them to engage, you may lose them. With every moment, a prospect is determining if he or she will keep reading or abandon your e-mail. Make the most out of the few seconds that you have and make your e-mail marketing worth your while.

5. In e-mail marketing picking the right photo for your message is important. Many e-mail marketing campaigns have failed simply because the photos that they use is not coherent with the e-mail message. Including images in an e-mail campaign can make it more attractive and help you communicate your message. If there is too much going on in your photo or if it is of poor quality, it can distract the reader and reflect poorly on your business.

When choosing an image for your campaign, look for something that is simple and easy to focus on and is directly related to your e-mail marketing. As an entrepreneur you do not want readers to look at an image and say, “What is the connection between this letter and the picture?!?! I do not get it.” If the image does not in any way support your message, it will only take away from what you’re trying to communicate.

6. Your e-mail marketing material should tell your prospects what action to take. Do not leave the person who reads wondering why you sent the e-mail and what you want. Get across the desired action clearly, boldly and early in the message. The goal of your e-mail is to get your readers to take some kind of action. You want them to visit your website, buy now, get more information, etc.

7. One important rule of e-mail marketing is making sure that it is simple. In e-mail marketing, less is more. E-mails that are uncluttered visually and have a clear message receive a higher response rate.

If you enjoyed this article then you would like to read: Email Marketing – 7 Reasons Why You Should Use It