Eleven Email Marketing Tips

Welcome to Spark an Idea Thursday.  Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers.  We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog!  If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired! Spark an Idea About Email.

Regular readers of my blog know I love email marketing as a way to establish yourself as an expert and stay on top of the minds of your future customers. I wanted to give you some quick tips to help you get the most out of email marketing for your business.

1. Send out a newsletter once a month, then a promotional (or announcement) email 15 days later.

2. Send your email Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, after 10 am if you’re sending to people’s work addresses. Any day in the evenings is fine if you’re sending to consumers. You’ll get the best open rate during these times.

3. Offer free articles and advice relating to what you do. If you have a cleaning service, offer quick tips for cleaning carpets, getting out wine stains, etc.

4. Include a special offer that only your email subscribers get.

5. Anywhere you encounter an email address (your inbox, business card, trade show), put it in your database. Send an initial email to new contacts asking if they are ok with receiving emails from you.

6. Mark your calendar with the days you put out your emails each month to be consistent.

7. Use a program like Constant Contact to send professional looking emails, NOT your Outlook (screams unprofessional).

8. Organize your contacts into groups, like Past Clients, Present Customers, Met at XYZ Conference. You can customize the emails you send out to each group.

9. Pay attention to your stats. What emails got a really high open rate and clickthrough rate? Can you put out similar ones in the future? Which ones had a lower rate?

10. Offer a signup box on your website.

11. Offer a freebie, like a whitepaper or ebook if people sign up to get your emails.

Do you have any tips to share?