Optibits

A client recently asked: Do you guys do email marketing? I have a database of about 15K existing customers which I would like to start doing a monthly or semi monthly marketing campaign to.

Our response: We have not conducted large scale email campaigns for clients, but we have provided consultation to clients regarding email campaign strategy.

Here are a few pointers I’d throw out to you:

1. Effective email marketing is difficult, more so now than ever before; excessive email or that which does not interest the recipient = spam and that characterization by hundreds or even fewer of your past customers can hurt your domain, blacklist your email server and even result in fines that can cripple your company

2. Done right, an email marketing campaign which works involves:

a. Speed: you’ve got to connect right away; nothing annoys people more than out of the blue receiving a sales email from a company they purchased from a month or more ago.

b. Personalized Automation: you’ve got to craft specific series of emails targeting specific interests; then have the emails automatically delivered once a week until the series is completed; when person B buys a product and signs up for the email, the auto responder begins the series specifically for person B. Person A, who purchased two weeks ago, is already on email 3 of the same series.

c. Creativity: helpful, interesting articles with product soft sells or brand recognition; pushy sales email have a high probability of being tagged “spam” and you can’t afford that

d. Recipient Controllable: simple opt in/opt out, change the frequency, or even choose an email topic – all options that can be chosen by the recipient

e. Clear, Up Front Sign Up: don’t send marketing emails by default; instead, have a section during checkout where a person checks “Yes” if they want to receive biweekly or monthly emails from your company. Let them know that they can easily stop the emails at any time. Promote the emails as offering helpful tips, and you’ll see a much higher sign up rate. Again, keep the pushy sales speak to a minimum. It is far more important, with email campaigns, to establish your company as a reputable, helpful source for information. Build the brand right and people will turn to you when they shop later.

f. Double Opt In: If you have a simple “sign up for our newsletter” box throughout your website, be sure to use that along with double opt in measures so that if a person enters their email address, a confirmation email is sent to them and they have to click on a link to confirm/verify; if they don’t confirm, no further emails will be sent.

If you do plan to start off a campaign using the 15K email addresses you currently have (which I would be hesitant to do myself if I were you), then I would recommend the following:

1. Email everyone with a basic email thanking them for their past purchase and asking them if they are interested in signing up for an informational monthly email you will be starting. Assure them that you will not email them again if they choose not to. Within the email, have a link or form that they can submit if they are interested in signing up.

2. For those who do respond, you’ll want to have the first email go out to them fairly soon (24 to 72 hours); don’t wait too long, or else they’ll forget they signed up for it and classify the first email as spam

3. You might get a better response rate if you offer them 3 options (3 different subjects along the lines of the services you offer) to choose from.

If you’re looking for a relatively simple do it yourself solution, www.aweber.com has a powerful auto responder and it is quite affordable, too, in comparison with many of the other programs available.  iContact.com is also a very affordable program that also has an auto responder system.

Dear Business Owner,

We are the recognized world leader in generating top rankings for our clients on the Internet. If you partner with us we will help you achieve your Internet marketing objectives and more by:

*Generating top organic rankings
*Custom solutions for your website
*Timely quantifiable metrics to evaluate your progress.
*Guaranteeing an ongoing maintenance program that will keep you positioned in the forefront of your industry on the Internet.

With your permission, I would like to send you a detailed proposal describing how we can assist your company in reaching your Internet sales goals.

One of our test websites in our performance study network received this email sent by an Andrew (no relation) with a gmail address. I’m almost tempted to respond from a non company email address and see what solution he promises. My question first, though, is was this email sent by a human (the text is obviously copy and paste) or did merely a computer do it en masse? The last thing I want to do is confirm an email address on yet another spammer marketing list. We all know how the spam multiplication table works overtime–1 confirmed email x 1 mailing list = 100 spam lists and when you multiple them each by 2 you end up with about 30 spam emails per day.

I do have one question for you, Andrew: you say “we are the recognized world leader …”–I’m curious which company you are really with? Why the gmail address (or hotmail as many other spam SEO emails use)? Why no website where I can dig for more information and see if you’ve applied the techniques you recommend to your own website? Why the unsolicited email to begin with–SEO companies that really “know their stuff” don’t have to be aggressive and annoy prospective customers to death. Our clients contact us–either through referrals from other clients or through finding us online.

I’m still tempted to learn what he has to offer–maybe he can beat the $19.99/month “special” that the SEO telemarketer from New York offered me a couple days ago.

Sozo Firm, Inc. would like to announce the addition of Deborah A. Bering to our staff of marketing professionals. As a new intern at Sozo Firm, Inc., Debbie hopes to add to the company’s successes as well as gain valuable experience in the process. As a marketing major at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, she plans to graduate in the spring of next year. In her years as a high school student, Debbie concentrated most of her attention on the arts, more specifically drawing and ceramics. Upon graduating, her teachers presented her with the Senior Art Award, in hopes that she would continue on to art school. However, Debbie hoped to blend both her artistic foundation with her love for business, and in doing so, decided upon marketing.

With a background mostly in writing and graphic design, Debbie is eager to formulate new ideas that may be useful to the firm’s objectives. Under the guidance and direction of SEO/web marketing consultant, Andrew Jensen, she hopes to develop her skills so that she may one day lead marketing teams in a variety of settings. Her focus during her internship will be to support and promote the Sozo Firm’s mission of individualized attention to its clients, while expanding her knowledge of internet marketing strategies.