The Internet is just about the largest free and open marketplace there is, and it is showing us a glimpse into a future of total connectivity and personalized information. The problem lies in the fact that since anyone can put just about anything online, the marketplace quickly becomes saturated, and potential customers end up drowning in a flood of products and services, not knowing which one to choose.
For starters, you want to make your email subjects attractive enough so that people will actually open your emails. This does not mean to lie. For one thing, deceptive email subjects are against the law and punishable by some hefty fines. So don’t take the chance. But there are legit ways to get people to open your emails. For example. Let’s say you’re sending an email that contains a free e course on how to train your dog. Well then for crying out loud, say it in your subject. “Free e course on training your dog.” If the person is interested, trust me, they’ll open it.
That kind of leads in to the next area where you can improve the results you’re getting. People aren’t going to respond to you if you don’t give them something of value. Nobody wants to just open up and email and read a sales pitch. That want something for their time. A free e course or report or something along those lines will bring about a much better response than a sales pitch. There is plenty of time to pitch these people down the road AFTER you have gained their trust. Give them something of value first.
No spam, please
The first mistake one can make is to send unsolicited messages. This is called spamming, and is the bane of many email marketers and Internet users. This is basically the sending of advertising emails en mass to people who have not asked to be informed in such a manner. This clutters up in boxes, causes massive loads on mail servers, and worse, serves as a vehicle for computer viruses and malware for the unscrupulous or careless marketer. This will seriously reduce the popularity of ones product or service. Though there may be some who do take up the offer, most people will simply delete the message without even glancing at the subject matter. Avoid spamming at all costs.
A trickle, not a flood
Email marketing should not be obtrusive or too pushy, in terms of selling a product. People tend to have trust issues towards marketing via electronic means, since they have no real guarantee that what they see is what they will get. Thus, avoid hyping up the products or services too much, or they may think that it is too good to be true and end up not buying at all. Additionally, this applies to the frequency of email updates to subscribers to your marketing service. Once a day is excessive, yet once a month would not be very useful in pushing up the profit line. As a general guideline, once a week or once every two weeks should be good, except if you have a special message on limited offers. Remember not to flood inboxes, and youre good as gold.
Options for trust
It should be possible for users to unsubscribe from your email marketing service. This is often overlooked by marketers, and scares away the more Internet-savvy users. The fact that they can opt out of your informational messages is a good foundation for trust, since they will feel that you are simply offering a service with no strings attached. Building trust in the informational phase will translate into more purchases and of course better profits later on, so take note.