3 Tips for Getting Your Marketing Emails in the Inbox

Email marketing is NOT dead. Far from it, really. Email is very much alive and kicking, and remains the most effective and profitable way to turn prospects into customers. In fact, a recent study shows that 74% of adults online prefer email for commercial communication with brands. Of course, the greatest difficulty for many businesses is getting their marketing emails in the customer’s inbox. Avoid the spam folder and get your emails delivered with our tips:

1. Relevant content. If you are frequently sending irrelevant emails, your recipients are likely to mark your emails as spam – regardless if they signed up for your email list. Recipient opens, clicks, and forwards are now being used to determine the sender’s authenticity when it comes to unsubscribes and spam complaints. Quality again wins out over quantity. Take the time to know your audience and only send information that is relevant and useful to them.

2. Segment your lists. Break down your email list into smaller lists segmented by demographics, interests, previous engagements, etc. You don’t have to send to your entire list every time. Send targeted messages to individual lists and you’ll get a higher response rate. Also keep in mind that when you blast out one email to your entire list, the inevitable spam flags you receive are in one large mass. Instead, by breaking down your lists and staggering the sending, the email provider will see less spam complaints against you bundled together at one time.

3. Know the rules. Familiarize yourself with and follow CAN-SPAM rules for commercial emails. Spam filters use these same rules as a basis for flagging questionable emails. For example, make sure you use a clear From label and Subject line, include a valid postal address, and provide an unsubscribe method in your email. Before sending your email to your customers, send a test email with the same copy through the major email providers (Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) and make tweaks as necessary to bypass the spam folder.

Email deliverability doesn’t have to be a mystery or a chance roll of the dice. Use our email tips to market thoughtfully and you can expect to see more consistent and reliable results from your efforts. In addition to our tips, what ideas do you have to get emails in the inbox?

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Email is Alive and Well

Social media may be all the rage, but no doubt about it: email marketing remains one of the most powerful sales and marketing tools at any business owner’s disposal. Not only is it cost-efficient, it’s also extremely accessible to anyone with Internet access and enables entrepreneurs to analyze their marketing efforts in detail to determine effectiveness and reach. Ninety-two percent of adults maintain at least one email address, and we’re sure you can think of many within your network who have more than one.

Make 2013 the year that you create a cohesive and powerful email marketing program that will firmly entrench your company’s name in your audience’s mind so that when they’re ready to buy your product or service, you’ll be the first that they call. Here are some tips to do just that:

• Think consistency. This is where your strategy will be critical. Make full use of an actual calendar, whether it’s digital or print, and map out your content for the year. You could base it on the sales cycles, the seasons, or even national holidays (e.g., Memorial Day sale, Black Friday blowout, etc.). Plug in dates for every step, from completing content drafts to actual publication dates, so that you keep your team focused on delivery with each issue. Make it an essential part of your marketing and sales plan, right up there with advertising and networking. 
• Keep it simple and mobile. More and more people are checking their email via their smartphones, so you want to make it easy for them to quickly absorb the information without having to do a lot of scrolling or pinching. Avoid relying too heavily on graphics — many mobile email programs strip graphics, so if your email is full of them, your recipients may see nothing but blank boxes.
• Get to know numbers and stats. It’s no longer just enough to send out an email and cross your fingers. Many email programs now compile reports with information on open rates and click-through rates, yet few marketers and business owners do much with the information. Familiarize yourself with what the stats mean, and how you can turn them into actionable results. You’ll want to get to know how to do A/B tests, i.e., testing two or more different elements of the same campaign to see which one has the most impact. Even something as simple as testing two different subject lines or even delivery times can yield surprising results. Most email marketing programs make it easy to run A/B tests, so take advantage of that feature.
• Forget sales. Think education. Just because you’ve been invited to someone’s inbox via an opt-in subscriber doesn’t mean you should bombard them with sales pitches. Many emails get dumped immediately to the Trash simply because they provide little value to the subscriber. Worst case scenario is that recipients will mark your email as spam. Choose instead to add that critical value by giving them lots of information they can use in their business, without having to pay for it. Have an HVAC business? Consider giving tips on home heating maintenance that homeowners can do themselves throughout the year. You can explain what freon is, and how to handle it. Don’t worry about “losing business” by giving this information away. Think of it this way: nearly all of this information is already easily available on the web. You must make it easy for them to get it from you so that when they do have an HVAC need, you’ll be top of mind when that time comes.

What are your marketing plans for this year? Do you plan to include email as a big part of your strategy? Share in the comments!

Photo by RambergMediaImages on Flickr.