10 Steps Toward Efficient E-Mail Marketing

by Jeryl Baker

Innovative companies are finding new ways to market their businesses via the Internet. E-mail marketing is right under your fingertips and it pays to spend some time to determine how to make the most out of it. Here are 10 steps you can take to take advantage of e-mail marketing.

1. Build Your Customer Base
* Collect all current clients' e-mail addresses.
* Add a subscription check-off to your web site.
* Offer incentives for people to subscribe and to read it.
* Categorize customers for targeted content.

2. Define Marketing Strategy
* What would make this campaign a success?
* Determine goals.
* Become a source of information or industry news.
* Sales - decide what you can realistically sell over the Internet.
* Updates - keep readers up-to-date on your new products/services.
* General communication - combine all of the above.

3. Define Strategy Details
* Steady delivery schedule
* Content - write yourself, hire a writer, use industry news
* Prepare your office to handle immediate response.

4. Choose Your Vendor/System
* If you plan on sending more than 20 e-mails at a time, you need a system to do this.
* Determine the features you need; don't pay for services you won't use.
* Compare prices; they vary greatly - some are better deals for different quantities.
* Check out customer service hours and availability.
* Tour the system and make sure it is easy enough to use and will allow you to customize.

5. Features to Look For
* Ease of use
* Ability to cut and paste, add graphics, categorize lists, format text, link
* Clear unsubscribe and de-dupe mechanism
* Statistics
* Ad click-throughs
* Un-subscribes
* Refer a friend clicks
* Bounces

6. Design
* Keep it colorful; add graphics.
* Keep it short, yet link to "more."
* Add humor; give people a good reason to read it through.
* Make it as easy as possible for viewer to contact you or buy your product.
* Create a sense of urgency.
* Proofread and send test messages before delivery.

7. Landing Pages
* Create pages on your web site to handle traffic driven from e-news.
* Provide details, specs, images, prices.
* Include coupons or discounts.
* Allow alternatives for contacting you or purchasing your product.
* Store archived issues, if newsworthy; this helps boost your search engine ratings.

8. Spam-Me-Not
* Ensure name and reply fields are immediately recognizable to recipient.
* Keep subject line brief and compelling; this is the single most influencing factor in getting it opened.
* Obtain permission if they are not a current client.
* Use your first issue to announce the schedule and allow for un-subscribes.
* Create a privacy policy.

9. After Mailing
* Talk to customers and get comments.
* Track new business.
* Keep lists updated.
* Analyze technical sophistication of information.
* Fine-tune.

10. Use It
Consistent communication is the most effective means of retaining customers. Educate them, give them tips, help them do their jobs more efficiently and communicate what your company has to offer so that you can become an essential part of their team. By knowing more about your business and your services, existing clients are more prone to stay with your business and refer you to others. Once you set this up, it is a very inexpensive way to communicate with your current and prospective clients.

Jeryl Baker is director of marketing and web media at The Connextion. She can be reached at 410-461-5430.

This article appeared in The Business Monthly in March, 2005.