Nine Secrets To Email Marketing Success

Admit it.  The key you utilize the most when going through your email is the delete key.  First, you start deleting all of the email from senders you don’t recognize.  Next, you delete the email you know you’ll never read.  Finally, you read the emails that grab your attention.

So, is it the sender’s name, URL or subject line that grabs your attention?  
Often, it’s that and more. 

Read on to discover nine ways to get your own emails opened and read so that your recipients will be enticed to take action.

1. Be consistent with your “From Field” so your recipients see exactly from whom the email is coming.  Setup your name, company or brand name in your email management program by referring to your help guide for setup instructions.
2. Ask your recipients to white list your email address to avoid your emails being blocked or routed to their spam folders.
3. Always stuff your emails with value. Your recipients will gladly open them because they will expect something interesting.
4. Be creative with your Subject Lines.  Create curiosity.  For example:  “They don’t want YOU to know!” creates more curiosity than “The marketing experts don’t want you to know.”
5. Test your subject lines on small segments of your lists.  One subject line will always get a higher open rate than another.  Use the best one to email to others on your list.
6. Be careful to avoid list rot.  People change email addresses, get new spam filters and lose interest because of your lack of contact or old content.
7. Email once a month at minimum.  Most marketers simply do not email often enough.  
8. Surprise your email readers every so often with something completely new.  Make your emails fun so your recipients will want to open them.
9. Always ask for some action on the reader’s part.  Get your recipients to do something like clicking on a link to your website or blog.

If you’re not totally convinced that these tips can pay off, let these email marketing stats marinate a bit:

• 35% of email users open messages because of the subject line content (Juniper Research, 2007)
• 17% of Americans create a new email address every six months  (Juniper Research, 2007)
• Those who buy products marketed through email spend 138% more than non-readers of email (Forrester Research, 2008)

Email marketing can really pay off by focusing on the right elements.  By always delivering valuable information to your readers, you’ll rarely have to worry if you’ll get a favorable response.