The Dos and Don'ts of successful email Marketing in 2021
Foreword
I have been receiving and sending business e-mails for over 20 years and am always surprised by the lack of professionalism shown by most people who use emails as a means of attracting customers, either for services or to sell a product.
A marketing email should not be a “phishing expedition” where the sender has no idea whether what is being offered has any relevance to the Recipent.
In 2021, Consumers have multiple choices, and a wealth of product service and sales information available to them on the Internet. So email marketing is no longer the simple solution to increase sales of a service or a product.
However, it can be effective, BUT some simple rules need to be observed.
The first 10 minutes of my business day is spent clearing my spam folders and checking – and invariably deleting – any other emails which have managed to evade my GMail “filters”.
Like most people in business, I value my time and do not want to be the recipient of unwanted emails – unless they arouse my interest in the first 5 or 10 seconds. This is the ONLY time available to make a good impression.
If I do check an email whose sending address I do not recognise, before deleting it, there are some simple rules that automatically apply which persuade me whether or not to “read on”.
Domain Buddy Rules for email Marketing
Relevancy to the Recipient
The email must be relevant to the business, and this should be immediately demonstrated by using a well constructed short email “Subject” or “Title”. It should also demonstrate that you have made the effort to understand the business carried on by the recipient – which can normally be done by visiting their Business Web Sites. Best of all, and if at all possible, you should suggest how your product or service can specifically benefit the recipient. The fact that you have demonstrated that you have taken the time to do the research will often impress the recipient enough to avoid your email ending up in the Spam folder. Even if the ideas you have suggested are impractical, this approach will improve your chances dramatically.
email Format
Do not use “highlighting” and bold text or other weird fonts, colours and tables. Keep the format simple and keep it professional. It is preferable to have a name – as in “Dear Mr Smith” for example – but remember that people change their jobs regularly, so make sure it is valid and accurate. It is probably safer to use “Dear Sir/Madam” if there is no verified name.
Politeness and Honesty
The email must be positive and polite. One of the big mistakes made is to tell the recipient of an email that his existing product or service is inferior in some way. For example, our business has a number of websites and we have many unsolicited emails telling us why our sites could be improved – either by re-design, or by making unrealistic SEO performance promises. Most businesses are well aware of where they could improve, but a negative comment or untruthful promise does not win a sale.
Well Written
By this I mean the email should be in good English. English is the commercial language used in the internet. If the email contains poor grammar or incorrect spelling, this reflects directly on the sender. Apart from this, the email should be brief and to the point, and offer a way to take action without unreasonable commitment from the recipient. Examples of the service or product offered, with a favourable review, are always a good idea providing that they are genuine.
Recognisable Sender
Don’t use email lists, or people who populate website forms. There is nothing more annoying to a website owner than to see one of his customer contact forms being used to try and sell him something. Send any marketing emails from a personal or business email address that is genuine. There are many excellent sales people from India, but they seem to think that if they admit they are from India, this will reduce their chances: some even use fictitious Western names. Do not do this.
Contact Requests
Do not expect that a prospective purchaser of your service or product will want to follow up with a phonecall or messenger chat. If the marketing email passes the initial tests, and the recipient actually reads the email, make it easy for the recipient to find more information without commitment – possibly by providing a link to a website and/or a Video with that additional information. By all means provide genuine contact details, but for the simple reason that you have not yet earnt the trust of the recipient, it is highly unlikely that he or she will want to contact you at this stage.
Be Patient
email marketing is a lot like fishing but not phishing! Just make sure that the email sent out meets the above guidelines, and makes it easy for the recipient to obtain more information without having to commit to anything. This may seem to be against all the familiar rules of CALL TO ACTION and BUY NOW which you will find on commercial sites, but the first step is to reassure the potential customer that the email you have sent should not go the spam folder or be deleted. After this, with carefully worded and polite follow ups, without pressure, and designed to create trust, you may eventually make a sale!