Email Marketing

Your email marketing campaign is probably the most important aspect of your total campaign. It sets apart the page views from the sales, but a weak campaign will not result in many sales. Consider these tips.

Create a compelling opt-in page

Your website's visitors need a compelling reason to join your email list. If you do not give them something of value and they think they will only receive unsolicited promotions and sales pitches, they will probably not join your list. However, if they know that you will provide them something they can truly appreciate, such as free samples, free information and special discounts, they may join your list.

Your potential customers want to know that they are not wasting their time by joining your list, so make sure your opt-in page has information that will ease their mind and make them feel comfortable about give you their email address.

Have respect

If your website's visitors felt comfortable enough to give you their email address, you need to act as if they have invited you into their own home. To do this, you need to respect that your visitors don't want sales pitches and promotions. You need to focus on the client-relationship factor.

Your very first email to a new client should be a warm welcome. Most email marketing services allow you to make an autoresponder email message that is sent out to a new sign-up; you should take advantage of this. Furthermore, don't skip on your first email's quality. Your new sign-up should understand the reason behind your email campaign and what they should expect from you.

Be consistent

If you promise your readers something, make sure you keep that promise. Nothing looks more unprofessional than a business man who can not keep his promises. Also, each of your emails should be coherent with the other emails you send to readers. If your emails can not tie into each other in some fashion, your readers may be confused at the point you are trying to make.

Although you do not want your emails to sound too "salesy," at some point, you will need to pitch your product to your readers; failing to do so will result in a lack of sales. Therefore, each of your emails, though they are not sales directed, should hint towards the initial pitch.

Making the pitch

If you have prepared for the pitch, the pitch should be fairly effective, though this is not always the case. Keeping with the last point, you still need to remain consistent. Pitching often may not be bad as long as you have remained consistent with your methods.

Again, you need to make sure you are offering your readers something of value. Yes, you may think that your readers will love your product, but if you sound insincere, your readers may completely disregard anything you have sent them. However, if you have focused on building a relationship with your clients, they should already trust you and know what you intend on selling them.

Keep statistics

You need to know when people are opting out of your email list, and how many sales you make after each email is sent. Statistics are the only way to dissect your marketing campaign and know what does and does not work. There are many statistic services on the Web, and many email marketing services come with built-in statistics.

Having a well thought out plan is the key to a successful email marketing campaign