E-mail Marketing Success Steps - Part II
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Sorry for the wait! Here is the conclusion of my e-mail marketing success steps.
Step #6: Send test mailings before unveiling to your full list
Before you send any email to your mailing list, there are some essential steps you need to take to ensure that there are no “accidents” that make you look unprofessional and destroy the mailings conversion rate.
- At a minimum you should send test mailings, open, and view them in Microsoft Outlook, Google Mail, Yahoo! Mail, MSN Hotmail, and AOL.
- Ensure a text message is no longer than 65 characters and a message written in HTML has no viewable code.
- Verify there are no strange characters in the subject line or body of the message.
- Verify that all of the fields you have chosen to “Merge” in the mailing have done so properly.
- Check that all hot links are working.
- Make sure to spell check the entire e-mail including the subject field.
- Ensure your contact information and mailing list removal details are clearly visible.
- Test your e-mail for SPAM Triggers. There are many tools out there for this purpose including stand-alone software as well as Word and Outlook Plug-ins. But, to get you started I recommend using this simple online tool.
If you follow these simple steps every time, the only thing that could prevent your e-mail from being successful is the copy itself, and not an easily avoidable mistake that is made while formatting or sending it.
Step #7: Send follow-up mailings
Did you know that a large portion of your existing customers will account for the majority of your future sales and profits? It’s true!
Your existing customers are also your very best prospective customers. If you run your business in the proper manner these people should already know and trust you, because they’ve had a good sales experience with you before. And while creating new customers and leads can be expensive and time consuming, sending follow-up emails to existing customers and leads doesn’t cost you a dime!
“This Is Where You Earn Your Money” is an article I wrote late last year that will assist you in understanding this subject better.
Automating the process of sending your follow-up mailings is the most important part of this step, and there are many software, script, and online autoresponder choices currently available for you to choose from.
One that I personally use and highly recommend for features and ease-of-use can be found here.
Step #8: Track the response to your e-mail promotions
Always track and monitor the results of your e-mail tests and promotions to determine what worked —and what did not (so you can dump the losing promotions and give your attention to the winners)!
Testing and tracking is a huge topic on itself so I won’t go into much detail here. If you chose my recommended autoresponse system that I talked about earlier it includes some powerful tracking tools that you should make use of. The creator of the software has included detailed tutorials to teach you how to use them properly as well.
Step #9: Continuously seek opportunities to automate
This process should be an ongoing part of your online business, not a simple “step” that you complete as part of an e-mail campaign.
You should always be looking for opportunities to automate repetitive tasks. The more you focus on “growing” your business instead of “running” it, the faster your sales and profits will multiply — and the more free time you’ll have to enjoy it.
Throughout my Blog, you will find plenty of material detailing how you can automate various aspects of your business. In fact, after you find the right people you will probably find yourself doing very little with your e-mail marketing beyond approving the sales copy before it is sent.
Here is a great place to get started automating your business.
Step #10: Enjoy the success
Often I meet Internet marketers that are having some sort of success but, they never take the time to enjoy it! What is the point?
Don’t forget to enjoy it! Take a trip, work half days on Friday, etc. Do anything you can think of to enjoy your success and not burn out.
It took a little longer than expected to get them all to you but, there you have my ten success tips for a successful e-mail marketing campaign.
As I said in the earlier post, I didn’t go into a ton of detail on this so don’t hesitate to post a comment with any questions or comments you may have.
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