In email marketing, less is more. Sending unwanted, too-frequent emails is the quickest way to lose subscribers. Email marketing is the most personal venue for online business communication and you shouldn’t impose on a subscriber’s interest in your business. They signed up for your subscription somewhat attracted to your business or something you offered. That doesn’t mean you can have free reign. Practice restraint. But, more importantly, give subscribers an easy way out.
Don’t pester your subscribers
Email accounts are prized by their owners. Your customers may have been using their email addresses since college or simply feel a connection to an email identity because of the memories associated with the account. As a result, users are wary of messages that appear to be spam. As an online marketer, you should work to provide your subscribers with authentic, relevant information.
You may have heard from other marketers that email is dead, that it’s no longer a useful way to market to and communicate with your customers or potential customers. Despite the criticism, email remains a vital way to communicate an authentic message. You can earn users’ trust and business by respecting the importance of their email accounts. Here’s how.
Personalize your content
For content to be authentic, it must appeal to your subscribers in some way. Whether you find ways to address them more personally or you target your content to their interests, subscribers will be more willing to engage your business and future emails if, each time, your email marketing campaigns offer content laced with appeal. Sixty-eight percent of marketers say personalized content based on consumer data increases ROI. Study the habits of your subscribers to better learn how to offer them relevant content.
Offer a visible unsubscribe link
While this might go against your instincts, offering subscribers a visible unsubscribe link on each email will make them feel more comfortable about receiving content from you in the future. Subscribers are leery of getting trapped in an email cycle and making the process of unsubscribing difficult or vague is an immediate red flag. Without a visible unsubscribe link, you run the risk of subscribers marking each of your emails as spam. Part of an authentic email marketing strategy is to acknowledge to your subscribers that, at some point, they may no longer want your emails.
Say goodbye with humor and dignity
If a subscriber decides to unsubscribe from your list, you’ve only partly lost the battle. The best way to retain a good reputation with them is to respond by asking them in a humorous way why they’ve decided to unsubscribe. Provide them a way to vent or share why they no longer want your emails. Not only will you learn how to improve your email marketing strategy from their response, but, more than likely, you will prevent leaving subscribers on a bad note.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfEpzXvVUQY[/youtube]
Email marketing is still the best way to communicate with consumers so long as you provide content that is relevant and you treat your subscribers right. Be authentic to your subscribers and improve retention for future campaigns.
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