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Business & Finance | September 11, 2009

Use email campaigns to drive website traffic

Deb Kirby's photo
Salt Lake City Internet Business Examiner
Dollar for dollar, email marketing works harder than any other marketing campaign. Email marketing Email campaigns are the most effective marketing toolhas a 17 percent higher response than direct-mail campaigns and 73 percent more response than telemarketing campaigns. And, the cost is usually minimal in comparison.
 
How do you strike the right frequency balance when too many emails aggravate people and too few cools the relationship? How often you send emails to your list ultimately depends on the content being high-quality and worthy of attention. Track your open rates, click throughs and number of unsubscribers at different frequency levels to find the right balance for you.
 
Be alert to what draws your personal attention in emails and what annoys you. If you’re like most people, you’ll find: 
  • Short, newsworthy newsletters are read more. Keep content short at 500 words or create two to three short articles with 200 to 300 words each. Keep it interesting; if it’s not people will unsubscribe to your newsletter and the lifetime value of the prospect or buyer will be gone in an instant.
  • Strong, compelling subject lines increase the open rate. Avoid capital letters, punctuation, dollar signs and exclamation points in the subject lines. These can trigger email filters.
  • Consistency counts. Monthly means monthly, not whenever you happen to get around to it. Keep the integrity of your mailing schedule.
  • Personalization matters. Do you respond more positively to Dear Subscriber or to an email personally addressed to your first name?
  • Clearly identifying yourself either by your name or company name will increase readership if you have established a good relationship with the reader. In fact mentioning the company name or product increases open rates, but including both in the subject line actually reduces readership.
  • Encourage reader feedback and questions. Not only will you develop a better relationship, you’ll see what’s on their minds and use it for future content.
If you set up an effective way to collect email addresses, the problem won’t be growing your house list, but managing it and fostering the relationship and sales processes. Most people focus on attracting new clients or customers and neglect the goldmine in the email addresses already accumulated. Your house list represents people who already have some kind of relationship with you and, ideally, have purchased something from you in the past. If they were satisfied, they are the most likely people to buy from you over and over.
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Salt Lake City Internet Business Examiner

Deb Kirby is a freelance writer and consultant who uses current Web strategies and techniques for SEO copywriting. She works with clients to create...

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