So, you have this wonderful, new, very cool product or newsletter you want to send out to the world. How should you do that? How to prevent your message from getting lost in the bulk? How to avoid spam filters and junk-selectors from marking your email as ‘bad’? Or even better… how to find, select and invite potential buyers to join your list? All of these questions – and a lot more than just these -need a decent answer and some careful considerations in order to succeed in sending, launching or guiding a good opt-in email campaign.
“Studies have shown that the greater number of personalization elements to an email, the higher the response rates.”
There’s a lot of things you have to keep in mind, and listing them all would take a lot of time and a lot of writing. Fortunately, somebody else [emailgarage.com] already has taken the time to put this online in the form of a ‘weekly tip’ to which I’ve subscribed a while ago. Here are some valuable links to their tip-archive, I hope you learn as much from it as I did
“If you have found a newsletter format that is easy to read, grabs the reader’s attention and makes him click through to your site, that’s no reason to celebrate and lean back contentedly.”
- Take your time
- What is the right frequency for e-mail?
- Focus on the first few lines
- Act before an e-mail address changes
- Tell the user what you’re planning to do with his personal information
- Make your e-mail list sign-up visible
- Thank your customers for their registration
- Explain the benefits of becoming an email subscriber
- Where to put the unsubscribe link
- Check for spam-like content and spam filter data
- Verify all links and check if images appear correctly
- Reinforce traditional branding with a consistent e-branding
- Never falsify the subject line
- Keep the number of mandatory fields as low as possible
- How to use a landing page
- Don’t sell, sell, sell
- Don’t design an email program without looking at the web site
- Use e-cards to update your database
- Test the layout of your newsletter with different email clients
- Defining Soft and Hard Bounces
- Apply the 5-30 rule
- Using a CMS to manage your HTML email templates
- Call to Action
- Make HTML and Plain Text Have Corresponding Content
- How to get people signing up for your email list?
- How to treat images in html emails?
- Email regularly
- Split lists to enable subject line testing
- How to obtain your email list?
- Offer something valuable
- Be careful using the word FREE
- Don’t send advertising
- The best time of the day to send out your campaign
- Get added to recipients’ address book
- Make sure your e-mail is consistent with your corporate image
- Six spam filter tips
- Don’t use email forms
- HTML vs. Plain Text
- Don’t forget the preview pane
- Plan your e-mail campaigns
- Focus on building the relationship
- Write good, clear and relevant copy
- Christmas, an opportunity to …
- Use customer data to personalize emails
- Test your e-mail on a small percentage of your opt-in list
- Offer multiple response mechanisms
- Get to the point
- Personalize your FROM field
- Make first URL & CTA visible without scrolling
- Don’t send B2B emails on weekends
- Keep subject lines short and hyperlinks plentiful
- Don’t send file attachments
Liked what you’ve just read? Want to receive these useful links too?
Subscribe to the Knowledge Station NewsLetters Dept.
Still haven’t found what you’re looking for? [Try EmailLabs]