Useful Email Marketing Tips

Out of date or abandoned email addresses in your list are inevitable, but there are ways to make it less likely to lose a subscriber that way.

Most email marketers include an unsubscribe option in their emails — it’s the law after all. However, many emails fail to include an easy way for subscribers to change their email address or other contact information.

If you don’t make it easy for the subscriber to change their details, they may abandon your list or simply forget that they were subscribed when setting up their new email account.

Including a simple “modify details” link in each email will help ensure that your list won’t end up cluttered with abandoned email addresses and you’ll be able to keep your subscribers even if they switch email accounts.

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A couple of great email marketing checklists were made available over the last couple weeks. One from Kristine at EmailDirect and another from Kristen at Bronto.

Checklists are usually better to have next to you in paper form — there’s just something satisfying about checking a box — so I’ve put together printable PDF versions of both checklists.

1) EmailDirect’s Optimization Checklist To Improve Delivery

View Checklist
Download Checklist

2) Bronto’s Before You Hit Send Checklist

View Checklist
Download Checklist

When readers initially subscribe to your list, they have certain expectations of what they are going to receive from you. These expectations are set by the copy that convinced them to sign up.

Don’t get greedy with your email list and start including content that they didn’t ask for. A good example of why this is a bad idea and how it can happen is on David Meerman Scott’s website.

In the article, he takes a company to task for their poor email marketing tactics. To the company’s credit, a representative reaches out in the comments section. It’s definitely worth checking out.

Including a video in email campaigns is gaining popularity as technology and standards advance. Mark Brownlow at Email Marketing Reports asked five video experts to offer advice on how to use video in email to its full potential. Here’s a quick summary:

1. Use video as a way to get readers to follow through on a call to action. Don’t lose focus on that objective.
2. Include a call to action near the video. Make sure your copy pushes readers toward the call to action by striking the right balance between your copy, images, and the video. This is true for both your email and your landing page.
3. Don’t forget to track your results using video analytics.
4. Keep your video short and make sure that the video player stands out.
5. Don’t disguise the video link. If you’re using a screenshot, make it clear to readers that clicking on it will take them to a video.
6. Many email clients block images, so it’s not exactly a remote possibility that your video will not work the way you . Plan ahead so that your email still works even if the video section doesn’t.
7. Test your options. Choose the video that balances your cost and performance.
8. Watch out for high video production costs and bandwidth charges.

Each of the points above is discussed much more in-depth at the Email Marketing Reports website. Check it out.

Also, you may be interested in reading this article: 3 Ways To Include Video In Email.

The way that you write things can be as important — if not more important — than the actual words themselves. A recent article on The Messaging Times showed five ways to make sure that the tone of your email is right for your campaign. Here’s a quick summary:

1) If you have bad news to share, make sure your tone stays positive.
Avoid zeroing in on the problem itself and instead focus on how you’re planning to solve the problem. Let your readers know that it won’t happen again. Keep your tone positive and confident.

2) Keep it simple.
Make sure your email is simple and helpful. Resist the urge to include too much information. Focus on your core message and make it easy for your readers to understand.

3) Inspire immediate action.
If your goal is to get people to take an action (click a link, buy something, etc.), don’t waste your time by including peripheral information that can be read by your subscribers later. Use command-based sentences like  ”Get it today” or “Buy now.”

4) Stay gender-neutral.
Unless you know the gender of your audience, stick to a gender-neutral tone. Failing to do so will result in half your audience feeling left out.

5) Match your tone with your brand, products, and services.
If your business relies on consumer trust (banks, attorneys, etc.), it’s probably a good idea to keep your tone more serious. On the other hand, if your business is focused on young people, using a formal tone could backfire. You need to figure out what your tone works best with your subscribers and then deliver it.

If you have a daily, weekly, or monthly email newsletter, you may eventually find it difficult to keep your subscribers attention. If they get bored with your content, they’ll be more likely to ignore your newsletters in the future.

One way to keep readers interested is to include a teaser in each newsletter that lets yours subscribers know what story or stories they can look forward to in the next newsletter.

If you make the teaser appealing enough, this trick will boost open rates, increase click throughs, and build loyalty to your newsletter.

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A good welcome message gets your email campaign off on the right foot with new subscribers. Ed Henrich of ClickZ offers these nine benefits that a well-executed welcome email provides:

1. It reminds them that they are opting in.
2. It can be used to confirm subscription details.
3. You have an opportunity to restate your e-mail program’s branding and value proposition.
4. You can reinforce your company’s brand identity.
5. It provides contact information that gives subscribers a way to communicate with you.
6. It’s a vehicle for delivering any promised incentives for subscribing.
7. It can help them find things they may have missed on their first site visit.
8. You can highlight/sell your products.
9. You can push new subscribers back to your site to fill out a profile or preference page.

(Found via The Scrappy Email Marketer)

Many email marketing novices start out using popular web-design software to design their emails. They’re usually the first choice because people already know how to use them and they help with generating html code automatically.

According to ExactTarget, you may want to avoid these three design tools:

1. Dreamweaver – Works for web pages, but causes issues with emails.
2. Microsoft Frontpage – Same problems as Dreamweaver.
3. Microsoft Word – Using the save as web page function inserts proprietary code that will wreak havoc on your email design.

Instead of these tools, use a simple plain-text editor like NotePad (PC) or TextEdit (Mac). Or if you want more features you can try one of these four ExactTarget favorites:

1. E Text Editor (PC)
2. CoffeeCup (PC)
3. Komodo Edit (PC and Mac)
4. TextMate (Mac)

While it can be annoying to receive multiple automated responses (out of office replies, etc) every time that you send out an email campaign, it’s still worth using a valid reply-to email address in your campaigns.

If you don’t use a valid email address, you’re missing out an easy way to interact with your subscribers. And if there’s not an open line of communication between you and your subscribers you’re throwing away a source of valuable feedback on your email campaigns.

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While URL shorteners like tinyurl.com or bit.ly can be useful in reducing the length of unwieldy links, there are some downsides to consider when using URL shorteners in your email marketing campaigns.

Return Path points out a couple of these problems:

1. Many anti-spam systems are suspicious of shortened links (because of their popularity with malware distributors) and may block them outright.
2. There’s a chance that some URL shortening services may shut down and stop working without warning.

While URL shorteners do offer some obvious benefits, it’s best to avoid them when you can.