Five Common Email Marketing Mistakes

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I've posted several email checklists before but I think it's always important to master the basics first before you move on to advanced techniques for you email marketing campaigns. When you have an opt in email list, you have a valuable asset that should be generating you recurring revenue every time you use it. If you abuse it, then you risk the opt out and won't get another chance to sell to someone who was interested in your product.

1. Using Words in Your Subject Lines that Trigger Spam Filters - Your email marketing message is completely worthless if it never gets there. Keep these words out of your email subject lines for better deliverablity.
2. Using Only Images and Little to No Text - Many users block all images in their emails. Some of them have email programs which do this automatically to every email address that hasn't been whitelisted. Don't assume your email list will have the images turned on or even that they'll turn them on to see what you sent. If you do, they may end up looking at a blank emails and you'll always get lower response rates.
3. Designing an email as if it's a website - This should be a simple email marketing campaign. Sure it needs to reflect your company branding but leave out the flash, javascript and any bells and whistles so that the message gets across and the email is rendered.
4. Adding the Wrong Reply Email - Yes, it happens. Sometimes by accident and sometimes even on purpose because people want to try and avoid spam filters. It's a bad idea.
5. Missing Information - Don't leave out the from name and contact information and especially your links back to your landing page.

Contact Orange Email Marketing for a free consultation about email marketing, bulk email software, email lists and online marketing.

Email Marketing Basics That Always Improve Results

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In life, many times the "basics" still work. Saying please and thank you, treating others how you wish to be treated, drink water to be healthy, everything in moderation; so many of these things still apply.

In email marketing, the basics still work also. You need to make your campaigns look better for the boss? Let's go over a few basics that will always improve the results of any campaign.

• Scrub Your List - If you're wasting your time and resources sending to people who have no interest in what you offer, this will save time and increase both response and deliverability. Remove names from your email address list which have bounced three consecutive times.

• Segment Your List - So you've got a nice big list that you own. What if you could break your email list rental down into 6-10 segments which you can now send more customized relevant emails to? Your response rates will go up, guaranteed. You opt-outs will also drop.

• Write Good Subject Lines - Keep them short and sweet and make it clear what is in those email marketing messages. Look over your old campaigns to see what worked before.

• Find the Perfect Frequency - If you send too many emails you're asking for trouble. What is best for you? It depends on your market. Once again, the best thing to do is TEST. It might be once a month, twice a month or once a week. Test the response, track your results and then stick with your schedule.

• Send Emails on the Right Days - What are the right days? We've been seeing good results on Mondays and Tuesdays. Some clients actually see good results on Saturdays. Others on Thursday. Again, test for the best response and then stick to that day.

If you always follow these rules you'll always see the best results. Keep track of your data from your email blast software so you can see what is working and then stick to it. Sure your new campaign may be brilliant and your anxious to send it today, but if your data shows it's better to wait until Monday, then wait, or you're just lowering your success rate.

To learn how you can use OrangeFire Email Marketing Software to manage your email newsletter campaigns, please contact Orange Email Marketing.

Checklist of Email Marketing Data

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Time for another checklist to improve the results of your email marketing campaigns. So far we did a simple email quality control checklist and a email relevancy checklist.

Now lets look at the email marketing data that you have already. You have your email marketing list. You likely already have data collected from marketing campaigns utilizing this list.

What can you ask yourself about this data to better leverage it for future campaigns?

• Which campaigns have performed best?
• Why did it perform best? Was it your list? Was it your offer? Was it your subject line?
• How can you use this information to test results for future improvement?
• Could you better segment your list by gender, zip code, age, repeat and new customers or other factors?
• How could you follow up to your list based on the actions different recipients took? Could the next message be changed for those who clicked, those who purchased and those who didn't?
• How will you measure the success of your next campaign?
• What is your plan of action after your current campaign?

The questions you ask yourself about the data and results you receive after each marketing campaign will help determine the success of your future campaigns. When your results aren't what you hope for, some people just want to move on to another offer or a different list.

Don't keep doing the same thing every time, always study your results and look to see what you can do better.

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For information on full service email marketing, please contact Orange Email Marketing for a free consultation.

Keep Your Email Messages Relevant

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Previously I gave you a simple checklist for your email campaigns to make sure your messages work correctly. That covers very simple way to insure your email list recipients receive and error free professional looking message. Now lets do another list to make sure your messages are relevant.

The people who receive your email marketing messages are going to much happier if they receive something they actually WANT. No surprise there but people still mess this one up. Just recycling a campaign you've already used in print or direct mailing isn't going to cut it. These questions will require more work then spell checking and copying and pasting.

Questions to ask to make sure your email message is relevant:

• What is your business goal for the campaign?
• How will your email marketing campaign compliment your other marketing efforts?
• What aspects of your previous campaigns was successful?
• What aspects of previous campaigns were not successful?
• Can you summarize the value of your message to customers in one sentence?
• Is there a clear Call To Action?
• How will you measure this campaigns success?
• What will you do after the campaign is over to build on your success?

Ask yourself and your team these questions in order to keep your campaigns relevant. Know your goals, know how to measure success and work your campaign into your overall marketing strategy. Consider what came before and what you will do in the future and you will ensure the best results.

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Contact Orange Email Marketing for information on pricing for email marketing campaigns.