Overview: Email is one of the most important business and personal channels of communication. Each day over 150 billion emails are sent globally of which 61% was considered non essential or spam.
Using Email: Email should be used as an integrated part of a marketing / communications strategy.
Gather Emails: Ask your customers if they have an email address and if they would like to be kept up to date , receive offers or discounts by email
Store the Addresses: Creating an Excel spreadsheet to store your email addresses is a fast easy way to store them. Also store the name / family name
Use a Tool: Mail chimp has a powerful free option for sending bulk emails. It also manages unsubscribe request and gives great statistics.
Plan your Emails: Plan your emails carefully. A good headline, short concise text and good branding all help to get emails opened and read
Good Headlines: 33% of email recipients open email based on subject line alone. A simple test is to ask yourself, friends or family if they think it is good
Best Headlines: Subject lines fewer than 10 characters long have an open rate of 58%. Personalized subject lines are 22.2% more likely to be opened.
Message Context: Consider the context of the Email. Is it trying to get interest in a product or service, selling or offering help / support?
Message Content: Prepare different versions of the content. Ask yourself, friends or family if the content fits the context. Would they read the Email?
Focus the Content: Tailor the message content to the needs of your Email recipients. General emails fail to engage recipients and cause them to unsubscribe
Don’t be Spam: Ensure that the subject line and the content do not contain words that cause the Email to be blocked by spam filters.
Be a Trusted Sender: Ask recipients to put your Email address into their trusted sender list. This will help avoid your Emails being blocked.
Graphics: Use graphics carefully. Many Email filters and security software block Emails with graphics because these can be a security risk.
Attachments: Attachments to Emails increase the size of the message and are the major cause for Emails being blocked. Use a link instead.
Frequency of Emails: On average a person gets between 10—20 Emails a day. Email users are very negative about receiving to many or repeat mails.
Best Email Days: Most studies support that sending emails on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday will yield the best results. Avoid Monday and the Weekend.
Best Email Times: Early morning emails have the worst read rate. Emails sent between 11 and 13.00 have the highest. Evening Emails vary in read rates
Timing Strategy: Emails sent between 3—5 days before an event or offer , are best. Day of event emails are ineffective.
Follow Up Strategy: Emails may remain unread for 3—7 days. Reminders sent inside that time cause up to a 21% unsubscribe rate from recipients
Links in Emails: Make links visible and explain what it goes to. Links should always be in the first visible part of the Email not low down in it.
Links and Graphics: Making a graphic into a link may look good. The problem is that the link is invisible and the graphic may cause the Email to be blocked.
Test Your Mail: A simple test is to send it to a friend or family member and see if the Email gets received, is opened and is interesting.
Test your Addresses: On average 17% of Email addresses stop working each year. Make sure you test you customer Email addresses . Phone them if an email fails.
Sales / Social Media: Monday has the highest Email driven sales. Emails have a high click through rate to social media. Women open 10% more Emails than men.
Answer Emails promptly: When you get an email from a customer or supplier answer them quickly. Delayign can cost you money.
