10 Email Marketing Tips For A Small Company

Posted by K.Singh-Kronik Media

November 8, 2008

A company’s website is a powerful marketing tool. The main benefits of a professional website are determined not by its design but on how it is used. Many companies have failed to realise the full potential of their website as they have not been able to use it to communicate effectively with customers.

In addition to providing information to customers, a company’s website can assist with other forms of marketing such as email marketing. Email marketing is undoubtedly one of the most cost effective and wide reaching forms of advertising available today. A company’s website can prove useful in maintaining and managing an email list for the company.

Organising email marketing on a large scale may require a dedicated campaign by as specialist email marketing firm. However a company’s website can be quite effective to build and maintain an email marketing list for the company. A company’s website can be easily used to manage small email marketing campaigns on an ongoing basis at practically no additional cost.

Watch video below :Benefits of email marketing to business

Following are some simple email marketing tips that a company can use:

1.Start building an email list of customers

Whether you have a small client base or an extensive one, you can start by adding your customers to your email list. Any new enquiries you receive could also be included in the list. Once smaller campaigns have been managed, a company can look to purchase or hire larger mailing lists for single or multiple use from other third party sources.

2.Provide newsletter registration on the website

It is fairly easy to provide a simple newsletter registration feature on your website. Any web design company will be able to do so quickly if it is not already available on your website. Make sure it appears in a prominent place on your website as it will improve conversion rates. If your website is implemented as content management system the chances are that a newsletter registration will be built in.

3.Point users to your mailing list

Some simple steps can b undertaken on a day to day basis that will help expand your list. As preparing the content for a quality email requires time and effort and hence it is best send out to a larger list.
Following are some simple ways to improve awareness about your company newsletter or email list and encourage people to register:

• Include a newsletter registration link in all company email signatures
• Include information about your newsletter at the bottom of your invoices.
• Post the newsletter registration link on your website and blog in a prominent place.
• Inform all members of staff to ask customers if they would like to receive your email newsletter.
• Create an incentive to subscribe to your company newsletter e.g. prize draw or discount voucher.

4.Work within the law

Know the laws around data protection and marketing. Any data collected at registration should be in line with data protection laws. It is advised to collect only as much information as necessary and take reasonable precautions to ensure t kept safe. Seeding unsolicited emails can get you in alls sorts of issues. It is best to keep y our list opt-in whereby customers consent to receiving emails from your company. In either case; newsletters or other marketing emails should have an un-subscribe option usually in the footer of the email.

5.Focus on the Quality of the email

There is nothing worse than sending out a poorly designed email to customers. Focus on quality over quantity. No matter how small or large your email list is, it is absolutely important for t he quality to be as best it can. The content should be proof-read thoroughly. The layout and design should reflect your brand. Include your logo and contact information.

6.Select an appropriate subject for the email

A good subject for the email plays a vital role in deciding how many emails are opened and read by customers. It is hence important to choose the subject of the email after careful consideration.

7.Call to action

If you want customers to respond to the email, then it is important to provide them with a clear and easy option to do so from the email. A common technique is to use a prominent ‘Click here to contact’ or ‘Request a call back’ option or a link to an enquiry form on the company’s website. Including a ‘call to action’ link will improve conversion rate.

8.Keep your list clean

The list should be kept clean as far as possible. From time the list should be checked. Emails that fail repeatedly, bounce back or other incorrect emails should be removed from the list. Similarly any user that has un-subscribed form the list should be removed. Take extra precaution to ensure the list only contains people who have opted to receive emails from your company.

9.Test your campaign before sending out to customers

Whether you are sending a periodic newsletter or a special promotion mail, it is always advised to test the email first by sending to your self or others in the company first. Any mistakes can be corrected before it is actually sent out to customers.

10.Measure the results

It is important to be able to measure the results of your email campaign. This can be done in a number of ways. Many email marketing and newsletter software allow collection of statistics on each batch of email that is sent. You can find out how many emails were delivered, opened and even what links in the email were clicked. These statistics can provide vital information for future campaigns.

Social Bookmarks