Email is a brilliant promotion tool. Useful for product or service oriented businesses alike, e-mail promotion is “green”, cost-effective, and easy to implement. In addition, e-mail is the primary form of business communication (not social media). Email marketing is also very effective, netting almost $45 ROI per every dollar spent.

However, it is also very easy to get wrong. The average person receives 110 marketing and advertising messages weekly in his email inbox (so, not counting junk mail or messages that end up in the spam folder). Out of those emails, the average person will only open approximately 33 of them and will only actually “click-through” on 3 offers.

In order to make your e-mail promotion stand out and up to the challenge, keep these seven simple tricks in mind.

-    Service
Email marketing and advertising isn’t expensive and it does require many resources to implement. As such, use it to add helpful information and services rather than push a sale. A good example of this is when banks send balance alerts or when travel websites send fare alerts to consumers.

-    Customize
Customize your subject matter as much as possible to your prospective client. Spend some time researching your demographic and researching trends and preferences. Different programs even offer the ability to isolate specific recipients on the basis of their IP location – allowing a national or international company to send emails tailored to locations, such as making sure that the e-mail ad that announces 20% off winter coats only reaches those consumers that live in cold weather climates.

-    Control
As much as possible, let the email recipient have the reigns on what they receives. When consumers can customize their own subject matter, you can be sure that they will receive info that appeals to them, that info will be read, and you can gain helpful insight on what your consumers are looking for.

-    Value
Email marketing and advertising can add value and it needs to if you want your message to stand out and be effective. For instance, consider offering ideas on how a product or service can be used instead of simply including a button to “click for more information”.

-    Transparency
Never try to hide or disguise your identity or your objective. E-mail readers are twice as likely to open an email from a name they recognize than from one they do not. Regarding your objective, the important part is to be specific. You should never have an subject line that reads “refinance today”; instead, it should read “interest rates are now under 4% for qualified consumers”.

-    Brevity
Keep it short and sweet. Your e-mail should be smaller than 55k and viewable on a small screen in its entirety. The ad should have value and substance, not your whole product or service line. Offer links but keep it brief.

-    Engaging
By using “click here” buttons or including surveys & other engaging elements, you have the opportunity to engage your person dynamically. This makes it more convenient for the customer to act on your sales message. If you forget to include this, you force your prospect to enter your website URL or perform a search, which could lead them to the competitor.

Need assistance with your email marketing?  Contact us to find out how we can help.