Email marketing is a powerful tool, but it's also one that requires a deft touch. In this guide, we'll discuss how to avoid the most common email marketing etiquette mistakes so you can ensure your messages are well-received and remain an integral part of your overall marketing strategy.
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You may think that the only way your clients will judge you is by the quality of your product or service. But there's more to it than that. They'll also base their opinion on how well you communicate with them. This can include everything from how quickly you respond to emails to how professional your emails are.
In today's world of email marketing, one-size-fits-all email campaigns are no longer effective. Emails should be personalized, targeted, and segmented to be relevant to the individual subscriber. Not only is it more likely to get opened and clicked on, but it's also the right thing to do.
Etiquette is as important as targeting your customers. For example, having a targeted dentist email list is just half the struggle. Email etiquette is essential for conveying your message and drawing in new clients.
Businesses should treat their subscribers with respect by not sending them unwanted and irrelevant emails. All these factors and more are what make up the etiquette of a professional email.
In this post, we'll walk you through the basics of professional email marketing etiquette so you know how to make sure your chiropractor's contacts list, for example, is hearing what you want them to hear.
Email marketing campaigns can be a very effective tool, but they must be done properly and follow the rules.
Here are 8 rules of etiquette that will help you create more professional and effective email marketing campaigns:
The etiquette of professional email marketing is pretty much similar to the real world. If you are rude and obnoxious, nobody is going to entertain you. If you are polite, people will love to have conversations with you.
When you send an email, for example to a CEO email list, you are asking them to give you a portion of their day, in which they can read your email, think about it, reply to it and take action on it. Being polite allows a person to do that with a happy feeling, instead of feeling stressed out or annoyed because you interrupted them. It also gives a warm feeling of respect.
In addition, being polite increases your reputation and allows people to open your email when they see it the next time. Your reputation is as important as your message. The campaign monitor claims that 68% of Americans base the decision to open an email or not on the name of the sender.
Don't use big and bold words because they might not be suitable for every kind of audience. Also, avoid using too many exclamation marks as it would look aggressive and pushy. If you're writing for a specific person then address them with their name rather than with just “Dear Sir/Ma'am", as it gives them a feeling that you know them personally and feel important.
Finally, whether you're writing a formal proposal, say to a pharma email list to pitch your new drug, or responding to a client request, there are a few phrases you should be using like thanking the reader for reading your email.
That way, you're being proactive in providing extra help. This is especially important if you're sending something like an estimate or proposal when you buy email lists. If someone has questions about the numbers, you want to clarify immediately so that there's no confusion about what's included and what's not included.
Email marketing is all about people. People love to hear from people. We like to know that we're dealing with a real person and not a faceless, emotionless entity. When you are sending out mass emails, you must keep this in mind. It's easy for people to get lost in the numbers and forget that there are real people behind each of those statistics.
The best way to ensure that your email feels personal and warm is to write it as though you were writing to an individual. Keep your tone friendly and conversational and avoid sounding impersonal or cold. Make sure you're using people's names if you're sending marketing emails to emotional professionals or individuals. For example hospital email databases or teachers' contacts list. It shows you care and are paying attention to your audience members as individuals.
When writing your email, don't just focus on the information that you have to convey. You should be thinking of how the reader will feel when they read what you've written. If you're looking for a good way to network, building an email list of HR contacts is a great start. People want to feel special, so make them feel like they are part of something larger than themselves; include interesting tidbits and behind-the-scenes information that makes them feel like VIPs with backstage access.
So, how do you know what the clients want or feel? One way to do this is through analytics and A/B testing. The more you know about your target audience, the better you can tailor your email marketing strategies to reach them. For example, Emarketer says that if you understand the previous shopping experience when you draft your email, then 81% of online shoppers are more likely to purchase your product or service.
Most of us are used to being bombarded with email marketing. It's often easy to ignore, but sometimes you can't help but be intrigued.
The trick for email marketers is to grab the reader's attention and keep it. This means creating a message that is more than just a string of text and images. Not only does it have to be well designed, but it also needs to contain content that will interest the audience.
The best way to do this is to add value through the copy — be informative, entertaining, helpful, or ideally all three! You can provide a benefit or offer something useful when sending an offer to a veterinarian's database for example. This may include free white paper or a discount code on Vet Products.
A simple rule of thumb is: Provide the purpose of the email in the subject line. Be concise and straight to the point in the first paragraph. If there's an offer, put it right at the top — you want readers to know what they're getting before they even open the message.
"Brevity is the soul of wit," Shakespeare once wrote. And while there are certainly exceptions to that rule, it's especially important when you're writing a professional email. If you're writing a long email to explain your new raw materials to manufacturing companies' email lists, for example, make sure to lead with your most important point.
At no point should readers feel like they're wasting their time reading your email marketing messages. If they don't see value from your content within just seconds, they'll likely delete your email without even opening it!
There's nothing worse than getting an email from a friend at 3 a.m. that says, "Hey, what are you doing?"
That's something most of us don't want in real life, and it's certainly not what you want from your email marketing.
If you're an early riser, be sure to schedule your emails for a reasonable time of day for your recipients. If you're on the West Coast and sending an email to the East Coast, take into account the time change.
A schedule helps people know when to expect you, a little like keeping a standing date with an old friend. You meet up for coffee at the same time every week and catch up on your lives. Two emails per month seem to be the sweet spot where open rates are the highest according to the database marketing institute.
However, don't just launch your schedule and leave it; A/B tests your timing, frequency, and content so that you have the best chance of success. This is especially useful when sending mail to busy professionals like a campaign to realtors email list. Keep in mind that most people check their email first thing in the morning and the last thing at night — so do your best to make sure that's when they receive yours.
You have a unique audience. The font, colors, and other design elements you use in your email should reflect that uniqueness. You want your emails to be consistent with your brand, which means they don't look exactly like all of the other emails in your recipients' inboxes.
What's good for the goose may not be so good for the gander. Your competitors might use large fonts with multiple colors, but your audience may prefer a more subdued approach. Be careful about making assumptions about your audience based on what you see your competitors doing.
As an example, a business catering to young parents may find that a whimsical font is appropriate for their industry when used in moderation. However, if you were sending a mail to an attorney's email database, then using that same font would seem unprofessional and out of place.
Have a consistent brand voice, tone, and imagery that stands out from the rest of the emails filling up inboxes today.
Your first email is like meeting someone for the first time. You want to make a good impression, so you put your best foot forward and demonstrate your value. You can't walk up to a stranger, grab them by the shoulders, and ask them to marry you. They'd run away.
The same idea applies to email marketing: You don't want to come on too strong in your first message. If you're trying to be too friendly, or if you're pushy and salesy, people will unsubscribe from your list as fast as they signed up for it. Instead, you need to get subscribers comfortable with your brand before asking them to do anything.
The best way to build trust is by offering something of value to readers. That's why a welcome email series can be so powerful to reach out to colleges' databases. It helps you orient new subscribers to your brand, lay out what they can expect from you, and start providing that valuable content right away.
Email welcome series doesn't have to be too long — even three or four messages can go a long way toward building trust for your brand and setting subscribers' expectations for the future.
Another way to build trust without selling is to provide useful content. Do this through your email program by sending out content that solves problems or provides information your subscribers find valuable. Once they see that your content is really helpful, they'll be much more likely to buy from you or take another action as well.
Even though email marketing delivers an ROI of about 3,800% for every dollar spent, it's not immune to fatigue.
The key to being a good email marketer is treating people the way you want to be treated. And that means giving people the opportunity to opt-out of your email list gracefully.
The best way to do that is to include an opt-out link in all of your emails. Even if this wasn't required by law, it's still just good business practice when you purchase email list from list brokers.
When someone opts out of your list, they are essentially saying, “I don't want to hear from you anymore." It's important not to take this personally, because it usually has nothing to do with you as a person, but more with the types of emails, they are getting from you.
Here are a few small things that can make a big difference in how you come across:
Overall, remember to be respectful, knowledgeable, and clear in your email marketing efforts. Your customers will be more receptive to your offers if you start with these basics--and if you put in the effort, you'll find that a little bit of research can go a long way. And there's no better time to get started than right now!