I just hit over 20% open rate with one client. How? One, by building a very specific list and catering to my target market. Here are some tips for improving the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns and some resources that suit your style and abilities.

· Make your subject line credible and straightforward.

o Examples include: News from mywebsite.com. mywebsite.com invitation. I know it’s not super clever but the open rates for emails with the company name in the subject line stand a better chance of getting opened and not sent to the junk mail bin.

o Words like “shop” are too vague subject lines just don’t make the cut.

o More straightforward subject lines are less likely to end up as spam.

· Don’t cram the inbox. How often does depend on your market. But for two clients and my own list, once a month or once every 6 weeks works very well. Sometimes as often as once per week works for some markets. But companies who send more than one per week are asking to be labeled junk mail. There may be exceptions but generally true.

· Don’t be “in your face” style selling. It’s more about relationship marketing. However, if those who signed up for your list did so for coupons or “newest arrivals” then that’s what they’ll be expecting. If you are taking more of a relationship marketing approach, do put links to product pages and non-product educational pages. But FYI content, tutorials, interesting industry news, something new about your business. Examples:

o You’ve started a new policy that benefits your clients or customers such as a birthday reminder list

o Reviews and endorsements, ratings, links to free tutorials and tips are all ideas that may apply.

o You would like feedback on carrying a new line and how it might help the end user

o There is a recall (even if it’s for a brand you do not carry.)

o New that can make their business more productive or efficient. (Benefits to the target are always good.)

o You’ve appeared in the news and you want to share

· You are creating “top of mind” awareness for bringing people to your store for a certain product or service instead of some one else. So even a subject line with your company name on an email that never gets opened is a reminder when they are ready to make a purchase decision.

· KNOW your target audience. Research who they are and look for surfing patterns. Are they a crowd who would respond to a 3 question survey on your site if they can see results? Are they the types that like to offer their opinions, ratings and feedback. For example, what is your most popular page other than the landing page? You can leverage that popularity.

· Make sure your email sends a text version if in html. And make sure you add a link to one you’ve uploaded in case a firewall has blocked some content and they want to see it. I noticed a click through of 1% to the posted email on the website on a last run I did. From that posted email, customers went to the site.

· Should you do html or text? Depends on your market. One I do is enormously successful with photos. But accountants, for example, might not be all that interested in pretty photos. Just make sure they are relevant to your market. I give them a choice when they sign up. I create one in html and they get text if that’s what they signed up for.

· Test it! Send it to yourself and other employees or friends in both text and html so you can trouble shoot. (Test it again and again.)

· Embed visuals but not too many If you are going to do html, make sure you use inline css which will be standard with most any program you use. Test the template to many different email clients including yahoo, gmail, hotmail, outlook, mac. You want a reasonable interpretation across all mail clients. The more complicated you get, the more chance it has to become rearranged.

· Build a good list.

o You can do this with a squeeze page that uses a ppc ad to bring them to the page. You offer something free for signing up. They sign up and the autoresponder sends them the freebie.

o You can have a sign up box on your website.

o You can post an example of an email or at the very least explain

o Build one from your list of customers who have previously purchased from you.

o There are so many ways to build a good list it would require an entire article by itself.

· Email Resources

o Aweber- Mostly text emails and this one is big with the sales letter writers and IM crowd. Good reputation.

o MailChimp- Great tutorials and advice, nice and simple email templates, mostly html and will deliver text. Very user friendly. It has a good reputation. Sign up with that link and you get 2,000 credits = $60. In other words, the ability to send 2,000 emails at no charge.

o Constant Contact- Very user friendly, well known and popular. It has a good reputation.

o Php list- Free but not for those who are not computer savvy because it takes some knowhow. It’s usually available through fantastico or auto install programs through your host and from their website. I like it because I have more control but there was a learning curve.

o There are also self standing email programs that allow you to have your own database

o There are also list managers which are expensive but worth it for those with many big lists. More appropriate for email marketing gurus.