| Email works well when part of an integrated direct | | | | segmenting your lists into specific demographic groups |
| email marketing campaign. While other methods can | | | | to improve the quality of your conversion. Using what |
| come across as pushy or disruptive, email is able to | | | | you know about the people on your list, carve it up into |
| prepare your customers for a sales call-or as a | | | | smaller batches and run email campaigns directed to |
| follow-up to a face-to-face sale-without getting in a | | | | them. On your subscription form, you might wish to |
| customer face. | | | | offer your members the option of HTML or text email, |
| The first thing you need to do is complete a | | | | and then ask for a few details about them, such as |
| competitive analysis-that is, check out what your | | | | gender and geographic location. |
| competition is up to. This is easy to do: your | | | | Sequencing: |
| competitors should be actively building lists of their own, | | | | Email is often considered to be a one-hit wonder |
| so you should have no trouble subscribing to their | | | | among online marketers. You have an offer, you put in |
| campaigns. | | | | an email, you send it out and then you wait to see |
| If you spot any competitors doing a great job, you | | | | how many sales you make. This, however, is a very |
| might want to order some of their products to gain | | | | shortsighted view; email marketing is about a growing, |
| insight on the kinds of messages they send to their | | | | evolving relationship with each customer. That is why |
| existing customers, as opposed to their prospect list. | | | | limiting your campaign to one email could be restricting |
| This information will give you the inside edge on what | | | | your revenue-instead, consider sending a sequence of |
| your email campaign needs to do. | | | | messages. |
| Best Times to Send: | | | | Frequency and Scheduling: |
| There are certain days of the week and particular | | | | When planning your email campaigns you will need to |
| times of the day when people are more likely to take | | | | decide what to send out, and how often to send them. |
| the time to read emails. Ongoing industry research | | | | This needs to be done at a global level with all your |
| suggests that for business communication, Tuesday to | | | | email messages. While you might think of your sales |
| Thursday are ideal days, and between 10.00 a.m. and | | | | messages as separate to your system generated |
| 3.00 p.m. is the ideal time. However, other markets | | | | housekeeping messages, to your customers they are |
| may differ, so ensure that you test different | | | | all still notifications from your company. You risk |
| approaches and see if there is a better time. For | | | | annoying your subscribers if you bombard them with |
| instance, you might find that if you are promoting a | | | | three emails in a day; as opposed to three emails in |
| computer gaming product, people will be more | | | | one month. There is no golden rule on how many is |
| receptive to these messages outside work hours-that | | | | too many, as it can depend on the kind of business |
| is when they are more likely to be thinking about leisure | | | | you are running. You will need to find the right mix as |
| activities. | | | | you gain a better feel for the tendencies of your |
| Segmentation: Targeting Your Emails: | | | | customer base. |
| As your email list grows, a key to ongoing success is | | | | |