Do email blasts work as sales/marketing tools?

June 2nd, 2009

John Flynn of Orlando, FL, posted this question to the LinkedIn Mastermind Networking Group.

Do email blasts work as sales/marketing tools?

We are exploring options to reach potential clients and we were wondering if email blasts are effective. I own a retouching studio in Florida with a good client base and portfolio but i need to create more exposure for us and hopefully land new business. Any suggestions?

Of course, I had a few. I hope you find they help you, too.

Great question, John! I know there are things you can do to improve the likelihood that your email would get opened:

* Use great headlines. You can do a search and read lots about how to create a great headline. Hint: search on both email subject lines, article titles, ad headlines.

* Be as clear, concise and compelling as possible about the purpose and benefits, the expected outcomes of your products/services —

* Do this above the fold – imagine what someone would see when they open their email without scrolling. They’ll scroll if you grab their attention above the fold.

* Include a clear and sizzling Call-To-Action and a link to where they take that action.

* Make sure the link takes them to exactly the page where they can take that action. If they can’t take that action on your home page, don’t take them there. They will leave unless you make it absolutely clear to them they are in the right place to do what they came to do.

* There are certain words and how you type them that increase the likelihood that your email will be flagged as spam. I don’t know where you can find this info – I just did a search on Google & Ask… no luck … so maybe someone else who reads this will know. If not, write me back and I’ll find out. My resources are not available at the moment…

* Plan on doing an email campaign. A single email will get you some results, especially if you do all of the above. But some will be deleted before they’re opened. Some might get lost in cyberspace.

For each follow-up email you send, your open and response rates go up higher and higher.

* Be sure you know the limitations your isp (internet service provider) imposes on sending out lots of emails. For example, some limit you to 50/hour.

To avoid getting into trouble with your isp AND if you really want to know how successful your email campaign is ~ bounce rate, open rate, etc. AND if you want to send out a sequence of emails AND you want to automate your email marketing campaigns, THEN you’ll want to use an email management software. The most popular on the market right now is Aweber. Some full-featured e-commerce solutions include automated email management software.

Tags: Email marketing, Information Marketing, Marketing for Professionals

Entry Filed under: Email marketing, Internet Marketing