How to Use Email Marketing to Your Advantage

With the influx of “spam” invading people’s inboxes, you may find yourself reluctant to market your product through e-mail. However, if you use e-mail the right way, you can profit from it and keep your company safe in the process. Here are some guidelines that you might want to take note.

Provide e-mail to your customers – It is best that you start e-mailing people whom you have had transactions before. They will most likely not complain when they receive some valuable information from you. They welcome opportunities such as last minute reminders, special offers, new products or product updates, and even industry-related news.

Compile customer e-mail addresses – In order to do that, start collecting their contact information. Make sure that you have provided ample space on your forms—both online and offline—for your customers to write their e-mail addresses on.

Use ASCII text – The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is compatible with most computers. Utilize these characters when typing your e-mail so that your customers would not have to struggle filling in the blanks over some unrecognizable texts.

Keep your message simple – Do not act philosophical on your e-mails. Make it easy to read and as comprehensible as possible. In addition, you can use headlines and sub-headlines to emphasize certain selling points. Do not overuse the words in ALL CAPS.

Use wide margins – Limit yourself to 64 characters or less in every line.

Put your most important information first – People tend to read just the first part of the mail and scan—or even ignore—the rest of the message. Make sure that all the key benefits and sales point must be communicated in the first part.

Make the subject line your headline – People see the subject line on their e-mail first (making sure that it is not spam) before attempting to open the mail. Make sure that the subject line is strong, crisp, and compelling. Don’t forget to check the spelling, as most spam mails usually have misspelled words.

Short is better – Unlike other kinds of sales writing where long copy outsells the shorter variety, e-mail is different. Online time is often too short, so make the most for your customers by providing them with shorter e-mails packed with sales and information.

Test it – Gauge your response by testing one element of your e-mail at a time. Does the subject line catchy enough? Do the headlines make me read the rest of the mail? Would I be convinced with the sales talk written at the body? Is the layout pleasing to the eyes?