E-mail Marketing Campaign – Things to Avoid to Ensure a Successful Venture

There are many benefits to a well-prepared e-mail marketing campaign. But by the same token, a poor campaign can cost you both new customers and the ones you already have. How do you avoid these mistakes? Read on!

Rule #1: Don’t Jump In Without Research

Know what you want to write about. How-to articles? Special offers? Company insider news? Get an idea of what content you want before you begin. Make sure your employees know about the email advertising campaign so they can answer any questions customers may ask. Also, know what you want from your reader. Many business gather an e-mail list and ask certain questions from their readers (name, address, e-mail), then realize they forgot to ask about their interests and occupation to further target their newsletter. You don’t want your readers to get annoyed because you’re constantly asking them to give you more information.

Rule #2: Don’t Overdo It

By this, I mean two things. First, it’s usually best not to start out your e-mail campaign with two or three newsletters a week. Start small. A newsletter that comes out monthly, semi-monthly, or even quarterly would be appropriate for starters. If you set the expectations too high, customers will be disappointed if you’re unable to follow through. Also, be sure not to overload your newsletter with excessive information. A good newsletter can turn into a boring one quickly, and you don’t want readers to become uninterested.

Rule #3: Don’t Link Your E-Newsletter to a Personal E-mail Account

With the ease of opening a new e-mail account, it’s amazing to think that some people still use their personal e-mail account for business. Be sure not to do this. It looks much more professional to use a business name than, say lovebug255@hotmail.com. Finally, what happens if you use bob_smith_315@gmail.com then Bob Smith loses his job? Now you have people sending e-mails to an ex-employee. It’s just better to start separate from the beginning.

Rule #4: Don’t Spam.

This one is self-explanatory. It makes your business look overly aggressive at best, and desperate at worst. Neither of these is good, so avoid pushing your newsletter on unwilling participants.

If you handle your e-mail marketing campaign the right way, you can expect to have lots of excited customers who will come back again and again. This reputation of satisfied clients will also bring in new customers. So now everyone’s a winner!