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Tip 1 - Get on the white/safe list
Aim to get your customers to add you to their safe/white list. Customers can normally do this by adding you to their address book. It's the only way of ensuring you are not redirected to the junk folder. Use the following strategies to encourage the customer to white list you:
- On the order confirmation page suggest that they white list you to ensure they receive order and shipping information
- Run time critical competitions that require you to receive emails to take part
- When someone signs up to your newsletter send them through to a page that clearly states how to white list specifically for their email provider based on their email domain
Tip 2 - Remove failed deliveries
ISP's will blacklist you if you do not remove the invalid email addresses after they have informed you. If the ISP's blacklist you it means nothing may get through, even order confirmation emails unless you are using a different IP address to broadcast.
Tip 3 - A/B Test
Use A/B Testing to run different creatives to different segments to see which one is most successful.
Tip 4 - Seed your list
Include a personal seed or two for all the major ISP's in your test, if you get junked try a different subject line to see if you can get into the inbox.
Tip 5 - Call to action
If you want people to act on your email, give them a simple and clear button or link to do this. A simple large button will make a substantial difference on your click-through rate.
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Tip 6 - Integrate viral marketing
Viral marketing can reap big rewards to the take up of games and offers. Including a 'tell a friend' button in the campaign can help you reach new customers and grow your list.
Tip 7 - Persona marketing the latest development
Persona marketing is being used for profitable effect by many large organisations (including Microsoft, Ford etc). Create up to a maximum of 8 persona sets to help you remove your view on your product/service and look through the eyes of your customers. Create persona's with a name, face, motivations, attitudes and goals. Develop your sets through a combination of demographic, psychographic and topographic profiling.
Tip 8 - Be consistent
Keep your emails consistent, consumers like the familiarity of knowing which section they usually go to and what it is they are receiving.
Tip 9 - Cleanse your database
Rationalise your database every 2 years (if you have long buying cycle this should be extended). Don't be a spammer, even when you have collected an opt-in email address, if you have been emailing the person for 2 years with never an opened email it probably means they have either identified you as a junk and do not want to receive emails continuously or they are simply not interested in the way you are presenting your proposition. If you rationalise your database you will focus on the real customers who do want to hear from you and increase the ROI through more accurate statistical analysis.
Tip 10 - Try before you buy
If you are buying a list from an external source request a test of the data (100,000) prior to purchasing the full base.
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