Email is one of the best and least expensive ways to reach your target audience, and with today’s analytics measuring effectiveness and ROI has never been easier. Take advantage of this medium to stay top of mind with customers and prospects, customize messages by segment, test offers and more!

Effective email marketing requires a good contact database, but that’s not all. A large email database won’t ensure customers receive, read or act on your messages. Building an effective e-marketing database and executing an e-marketing program that delivers results is an ongoing process. Here are a few key tips to get you started:

1. Capturing Contact Data
   Your website Home page is one of the best places to secure email addresses, but since visitors may enter your site from different pathways you should ensure that every page contains a subscription form that is easy to locate and easy to read. Forms should be simple and require only the necessary information you need to email your subscribers.
2. The Drive to Subscribe
   Most visitors are unwilling to divulge their email information. And, it’s hard to establish trust over the Internet. Giving potential subscribers an incentive to subscribe, such as a list of benefits, other free subscriptions, contests, special promotions etc. will help to encourage them to provide their email addresses.
3. Asking Permission
   Obtain subscribers’ permission to receive “bulk” email. Without permission, your email will be considered spam. Confirm that subscribers have in fact subscribed with an email that thanks them and confirms that they have given you permission to send them information.
4. Please and Thank you
   The thank you email is the first point of contact between you and your new subscribers. Guaranteeing your subscribers’ privacy is vital to ensuring you establish a relationship of trust. The thank you email can also help set expectations about what subscribers should expect (bi-weekly or monthly delivery, ongoing content categories etc.).
5. Deliver Value
   Important as it is to capture and create an accurate email list, securing subscribers’ long term interest and readership is your key goal. Ensure your emails contain:

• Value-Added Content – targeted information, tips, reviews, invitations to exclusive events, special product or service promotions etc.
• Consistency – A consistent email format, length (short) and frequency (often) is vital to ensure readers anticipate and read as many issues as possible
• Personalized Messages – segment your list by target audience – potential customers vs. existing customers, etc. Create different products and promotions based on cross-selling and up-selling goals, special events to convince competitive customers to learn more about your business and its offerings, etc.
• Valuable Links – include links to specific areas of your website where visitors can find more information

Building a brand that will resonate with prospects, customers and employees is critical to success. Once your brand is established, delivering your brand message to the right target markets is the next piece in the puzzle – check the next issue of 5th Insight for more on this and other smarter marketing strategies to meet today’s business challenges.

Remember, subscribers can unsubscribe at any time. Find out why by surveying subscribers at the time of opt-out. This will help you gain valuable insight about where your website and e-publication can be improved.

If you think your e-marketing is getting lost in the mass of emails in your clients’ inbox, you’re not alone. Competing for the attention of time-starved business people is a challenge, but there are ways to cut through the clutter. How? Start by getting personal! Transform your email marketing into effective, personalized communications your clients want to receive. These 7 tips will help you develop an e-marketing campaign that will help strengthen business relationships and drive sales:

1. Get Permission!The difference between spam and permission-based email marketing is that the recipient has asked to receive the information, thus giving you permission to send it to them. To get that permission, you need to offer something of value – an informative newsletter or promotional offer, for example – in exchange for the customer agreeing to receive your messages and, often, to provide valuable personal information and preferences.Always include a way for people to unsubscribe in all email campaigns. Be sure to monitor unsubscribes as well as the number of new subscribers, so you can to gauge the effectiveness of different subject matter, offers, etc.
2. Don’t Reinvent the WheelA valuable strategy is to research what others are doing. Subscribe to e-newsletters from respected organizations in your industry and beyond, even competitors, where possible. Make note of the things that make you want to open some, but delete others. You can also use these publications to suggest ideas for subject matter you may want to cover in your own publication.
3. Give Your People What They Want! Start with a subject line that captures immediate interest, and add article headlines that make people want to read more. Then, make sure to customize your messages so they appeal to clients’ needs and interests. You can also ask them what they want to hear about! Are they interested in product news? Special offers? Tips and how-to guides? Once you know what interests them, give it to them consistently and watch your response rates soar. Finally, keep it short and simple – your e-communication should require minimal scrolling to keep readers engaged.
4. How Much is Too Much?While it’s important to stay in front of your customers and prospects, it’s equally important not to be an annoyance. In most cases, emailing once a month strikes a balance between keeping your brand and company name top of mind without irritating your subscribers. Emailing more frequently may turn off recipients and increase your unsubscribe rate.
5. Something for Everyone Once you’ve got a compelling message, you can offer it in a variety of ways to suit different audiences. You might accompany your communication with audio, video and/or animation to create more excitement and visual appeal. That said, it’s always a good idea to have a plain text version for those recipients that prefer it.Look for upcoming issues of 5th Insight for new audio and video components.
6. Testing 1-2-3Test the effectiveness of each email campaign by using different subject lines, different wording, unique offers, a different colour/design etc. Through testing you’ll be able to find the winning combination that works for you.
7. Measure Your Success! Measuring the results of your email marketing efforts allows you to understand what works – and what doesn’t – so you can maximize the effectiveness of each campaign. Select an email marketing software that automatically manages and tracks results so campaign analysis is quick and easy.