How Small and Mid-Sized Businesses Can Succeed in Email Marketing

Email marketing is not a new concept now. Big, established brick and
mortar business too have put their feet firm into this channel. Due to
this, it is not very easy for small and mid-sized businesses to
compete and move ahead of their bigger competitors.The best thing
about email marketing is that it is affordable. It doesn't require
much investment and hence upcoming business too can give it a try
without fear. There are some important things about email marketing
which a beginner should be aware of and experienced should keep
practicing and following it.These are:Sign up and Welcome email
When a
visitor comes to your website and shows interest in your products and
services by signing up, it is an email marketing etiquette to send a
'Thank you and Welcome Email to him. Always mention your reverse
address and opt out link in your email. You emails without an
unsubscribe link is an intrusion without apologizing. Secondly, email
frequency and the content need your close attention. In the very first
mail that is the 'Welcome mail', clearly mention how frequently will
you be sending the mails, 10 days, every fortnight, monthly, etc.
Mention, also in the 'Welcome Email' about how frequently (say one in
15 days) you will send and the subject/topic of the future
emails.Opt-in list
Running a campaign with a poor list, with stale
contacts is like inviting ISPs to block you as a spammer. Sending
unsolicited mails to people who have not given you their permission to
do so is against CAN-SPAM Act, 2003 and your shouldn't practice
it.Blacklist
ISPs and ESPs are very strict and ensure their clients
are well-protected from getting spam mails. For this they install
filters that block emails that are suspicious, don't comply with their
rules, and are not authenticated, etc. All such names, ip addresses,
and domain are recorded under 'Black List'. Once your name gets
blacklisted you cannot send emails to your target audience till your
name is removed from the list. This might take more than 3 months.
Hence it is always advisable to send mails to opt-in lists only.Email
deliverability
With spammers finding all the notorious ways to enter
to inbox, ISPs and ESPs raise their safety measures bar high and
strong. However, the worst victims are those marketers who send emails
to opt-in list but get suspected as false positives due to
objectionable terms, phrases or other attributes. This abstain their
genuine messages to reach to the target audience. Email deliverability
is one thing that every marketer is struggling to improve. As a
marketer you shouldUnderstand CAN-SPAM Act, 2003 for email marketing
guidelines.Authenticate your brand name and ip address by providing
all the necessary details like nature of business, nature of messages
you are going to send, and email marketing practices you are
adopting.Avoid spammy words that trigger the spam filters installed by
ISPs and ESPs and your recipient's mind.Request email recipients to
add your name and email address to their address book.Other important
things are list segmentation, tracking your email campaigns, etc. All
these and more will be discussed in the next article.