By Kris Mills - copyright 2002 Words that Sell

If you're not already using email marketing as part of your communications strategy, make sure you start now.

The reason I say this is that email marketing offers a HUGE number of benefits that direct mail and main stream advertising simply can't match.

For a start, it's incredibly affordable so it enables you to test your main stream advertising approaches before you invest wads of cash on radio, print or tv.

What's more, responses are almost instant so you instantly know how well a campaign is working. 

Not only that, it's also easy to implement. There's no need to organise printing, postage and so forth.

Email marketing is fast becoming a very powerful marketing medium, yet because of its infancy, not many companies are confident as to how to utilise it to its best effect.

In the following article I've included the most common questions that clients ask me. Hopefully they'll help clear up some grey areas for you.

Q1. How can I integrate email marketing with my direct marketing efforts?

As a marketer, you naturally adopt (or have at least heard of) marketing pillars or the marketing parthenon.

Well, because email is a little sister to direct mail, and because of its new kid on the block status, a number of companies I speak with (big and small) are a little unsure as to how to best integrate email marketing into their campaigns.

If used in conjunction with a variety of media, email is a great "teaser" vehicle, a great reinforcer and follow-up vehicle.

• Using direct mail in conjunction with email for the one campaign will dramatically increase responses because it maximises penetration.
• If embarking on a direct mail campaign, send an email as a pre-cursor to the campaign, asking people to watch out for an exciting offer that will be sent to them via mail.
• Follow up the direct mail campaign with an email stressing the sense of urgency and suggesting they respond now before they miss out.

Q2. Should I send HTML or plain text emails?

Lets face it - HTML emails look more attractive. Of course, they do. And as business professionals we'd much rather see our message appear in an attractively designed format, instead of ugly old text.

The trouble is, even though more and more people have fast computers, there are still a large number of internet users whose machines simply can't cope with HTML emails.

The format that is right for your company will depend on the level of sophistication of your customer base and the type of product you're selling.

Even if you decide to go with a HTML format, always give your prospect the choice between plain text and HTML. That way, if their computer systems don't support HTML, they can always opt for the text version.

Q3. How often should I email my list?

There's no hard and fast rule, however as a starting point, I'd recommend a monthly frequency for an e-newsletter and a monthly frequency for sales campaigns to that same list. That way, they're receiving two pieces of communication from you per month.

This may turn out to be too frequent for some prospects and not frequent enough for others. It just depends on the level of relationship you have with a client, the frequency of repeat purchase, and the type of business you're in.

The key is to test and see what happens.

Q4. Which subject headings get read?

This is a tricky one. If you were writing a print ad or a direct mail piece and you're making a fantastic FREE offer, I'd suggest that you use the word "FREE" in your headline. This isn't necessarily the best way to approach things for email.

Each day I receive anywhere from 50 - 100 emails. My process for selecting which ones to read involves scanning down the list of emails and immediatley deleting anything with the words "FREE" and anything with a long headline that looks like

Ones that attract my attention are :

• Re :
• FYI
• Here
• Kris, etc. etc.

Or one word email headings because they're instantly shorter than all the other ones that come through.

Q5. Two step or direct sell?

I'm not a big fan of using a shot-gun, one step approach with email. Instead, what I find works far better is to embark on a multi-stage campaign which begins by offering something completely free of charge.  

It might be a free report, a free entry into something, or something else. 

This starts your relationship off on a solid footing. You're seen as an advisor not a sales person. They're appreciative of your generosity and if nurtured in the right way, will buy from you down the track.

Sure, it takes longer to employ this approach, but you'll reap the reward in the end.

Q6. How important is it that the message is funny or clever?

Some creatives will "spit ball" wildly creative ideas around the boardroom table and produce what they believe is a masterpiece of wit. But, in the 1 to 1 stakes, persuasion outperforms wit by a factor of ten.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that your email piece needs to look like something Robin Williams has written, just so you can grab the attention of your audience. What is far more important is that it is persuasive. That it embodies salesmanship in print.

Think persuasion. Think benefits. Think information. Think proof. That's what your prospect wants. Entertaining emails certainly have their place when it comes to branding, but not in the "direct response" stakes.

Q7. How can I be sure that the list is "opt in"?

The answer is at the end of the day, you really can't. But what you can do is look at the companies selling the lists and also make a value judgement on the price.

Before you purchase a list, please, please make sure you only buy from a reputable list broker. Don't fall for the 2,000,000 opt-in names for $200 scams. 

Use these lists and you could find yourself getting "black banned" by your ISP. Even if these providers swear that the names are opt-in, there's a 90% chance they're bending the truth. Just remember, you get what you pay for. The more targeted the list, the more it will cost.

If you're not 100% sure, just send us an email at kris@internetmarketingedge.com.au and send details of the list and company selling the list, and I'll see if I can provide you with some guidance.

Q8. When is the best time to email?

As a general rule, avoid Mondays, Fridays and weekends. Also, avoid early morning or later in the afternoon because early in the morning, your message will get buried in the avalanche of messages that arrived overnight.

Late in the afternoon people are often busy so they may see your message and think, "I'll read it tomorrow, and as you know yourself, tomorrow often never comes." We've found that the best time to email is around 10am.

Having said this, if you have prospects in all different time zones, sending out a campaign at a consistent time for each time zone is a little difficult. 

Q9. What sorts of lists can I rent or purchase?

Even though email marketing is in its infancy, there are already a large number of opt-in email lists available with target markets that are segmented into a vast array of decision makers, industry types and so forth.

If you want to market to Marketing Managers, I know where you can get an email list of Marketing Managers. And just the other day, a client called me asking if it was possible to secure an email list of golf enthusiasts. And sure, enough, a few phone calls later, there it was ... a list of 15,000 people who love golf.