Email marketing without spam?
In
the earlier days of the Internet, email was one of the primary methods of advertising
online. I remember when anyone could use "WebSnake" software to extract
thousands of emails from webpages, and then send a thousand emails at a time
from AOL - without any worries. Well, those days are long gone. With intelligent
anti-spam technology and rigid laws in place, unsolicited email is now the exclusive
domain of fraudsters, criminals, and fools.
But has email's value as a marketing tool completely disappeared? Absolutely
not. Here are some tips for putting the power of email marketing to work for
you:
The simplest email marketing: signature lines
I frequently receive email inquiries from prospective clients and website visitors with "questions", "comments" and "feedback". Although the emails are legitimate, I recently realized that the people with catchy signature lines seem a bit more eager to correspond. Gee, I wonder why :)
A friend of mine changes his email signature line every week - always including a new YouTube video, blog link, or other URL with an eye catching tag line. And guess what - it works - I click!
How can you put signature lines to work for you?
For bulk email, compile your own email marketing list
Rule #1 for avoiding spam issues is to make sure that any list you send to was generated by you, with your customers' full knowledge.
If you haven't already, be sure to read the section about promoting your site using newsletters. In particular, you should start compiling your mailing list by collecting addresses anywhere you can -- on your homepage, on business forms, at the cash register, etc. You can encourage mailing list signups by offering free lessons/advice, bonuses, prizes, coupons, discount codes, and so on via email.
You might want to revise your privacy policy to explain that anyone contacting you via your website, or anyone making a purchase via your website, will be automatically added to your email marketing list. Very few people will think it unreasonable that you contact them after they have done business with you.
Here's a good video primer for email marketing beginners. Note that most of the "warnings" can be avoided by using one of the email marketing services listed in the next section:
Email list management
To further avoid spam complaints, it is crucial that you implement some system to efficiently handle users who want to unsubscribe from your mailing list. Although there are many optimized, I typically recommend using a recognized 3rd party service to increase legitimacy.
As mentioned elsewhere on the site, Aweber.com, iContant.com, ConstantContact.com, Email-Publisher.com, Campaigner.com, Lyris.com, and VerticalResponse.com are excellent email list management systems for anyone with limited technical interest. In addition to handling unsubscribe requests, these services also offer reliable HTML email templates, and some have arrangements with major ISP's to avoid bulk filters. This is the best way to get your message through, and avoid getting your own IP address on an Internet blacklist.
For DIY email marketing
If you do choose to do it yourself, once again, be sure to make unsubscribing easy so that you avoid spam complaints. Some email marketing tools that you might find useful are:
- PHPList.com (send mail / manage lists)
- Pommo.org (send mail / manage lists)
- SwiftMailer.org (send mail / manage lists)
- PHPMailer (send mail / manage lists)
- Dada Mail (send mail / manage
lists)
Sending text email will make life much easier if you design your own email marketing content. However, if you do choose to send HTML, be sure to:
- Configure the mailer to embed an alternate/text version.
- Use short URL's to avoid broken links.
- Handcode the HTML or use Dreamweaver - do not use MS Word.
- Don't include Javascript, DHTML, forms, or Flash.
- Remove these tags: <html><head><title><body><meta><iframe>, and any anything else unnecessary.
- Use <br> tags for more compactness than <p> tags
- Convert any image links to absolute URL's and make sure that your images are online.
- Stylize text, links, and tables with inline CSS to avoid webmail service defaults.
- Provide a link to a webpage version of your email for anyone having trouble reading your message.
- *Include an unsubscribe link or removal instructions.
When your HTML email is ready, be sure to test send from various services to see which works best for you, and test send to various services to confirm compatibility for recipients.
- Important webmails to test: Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail
- Important free software to test: Outlook Express & Thunderbird