hal9000.ie

Email Marketing as a channel is alive and kicking. While the new paradigm of social CRM is still be played out, it’s clear that Email marketing is not being displaced by social media. Having said that, the time a typical user spends on that inbox is now being ‘shared’ with other online channels (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, Forums, Review sites etc).

A recent Marketing Institute of Ireland (MII) survey shows that email campaigns rank as the most popular online marketing channel amongst marketers, closely followed by SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

I’ve already given my top 10 Email Marketing Tips. But it doesn’t stop at 10, so here’s a few more:

1.Keep your list clean of bounces. If your list has a high number of ‘bounces’ ie. undelivered mail due to email addresses no longer existing etc, you risk being designated as spam. Don’t slip down this black hole.

2. Is your list up to date? If you haven’t emailed them in a year, then you may need to re-introduce yourself. I got a bunch of mails recently from Eumom.com, who I think I subscribed to when I had a baby. My youngest is 6 next week – so I’m probably not a great prospect for them. I’ve unsubscribed.

3. Do you need to remind them of who you are? I got a mail today from SaySo and had no idea who they were, so I unsubscribed. Then I saw that they had re-branded from Truvo, who I had subscribed to. But I’m not going back now, so they’ve lost a contact.

4. Is your list all opted-in? Your list needs to be explicitly opted-in for promotional emails.  Transactional emails are different. An example of a transactional email is one related to the purchase of an item. Remember, just because you have their email address doesn’t mean you can mail them!

5. Be topical or seasonal. I just got a mail from Peppa Pig giving me an Advent Calendar. When I click on the calendar, it brings me back to content hosted by ‘Peppa’s’ London digital agency, where I (or a 6-yr old) can get something different to do each day.

Are there any others you could add? Did you get any outstanding Newsletters lately?