We have all been used to negative forecasts for SMEs but they haven’t been as dire for some time. Every economist, political reporter, marketing researcher and their dogs are suggesting that whatever business we are in, we are going to struggle over the coming months, email marketing included. History, though, tells us otherwise. In any, let’s not use the R word and instead say contraction, some businesses close or otherwise go out of business. Some are bought out, in our case to obtain our databases. If you look at previous contractions, one truth is clear; well-founded and well-run business ..read more

It is a truism that most people do not like change. But don’t let that fool you: it is true. Yet customers expect change. If you stick with the same old, you will appear to these change-haters as someone who doesn’t care. You need to ensure you do not upset the subscribers to email marketing lists by doing what they expect, but in moderation. If you, like many companies, habitually change various facets of the design of, say, newsletters and marketing emails and, when the due date arrives, don’t, those who notice these things might be concerned. Here we are, in an economy that looks as if it ..read more

Using email marketing as a method of brand building is so effective that many companies refrain from investing in other methods. This could well be a mistake. Missing out on simple and cheap ways of presenting your company to a much wider catchment is a fundamental error. I edited a magazine. You are not interested in the problems that I, along with most other editors, suffered month after month, the biggest one of which was space-filling. It’s the perennial problem of those who chase advertisers and you’d think they would be more sympathetic towards the editor, but no. The vast majority of m ..read more

You have checked through the free email marketing templates, picked the one that will appeal to specific split lists, taking great care with heading, subheadings, images and copy, and, after a great deal of thought and possibly discussion, have created the perfect Subject Line. So why have so many emails bounced? There are many possible causes, such as whether your IP address is considered ‘safe’ or not, but there is one reason that is a common to those new to email marketing: email list hygiene. If you don’t take care of your list and ensure it is pristine, no one else will. If you have just ..read more

  I am not a massive supporter of jargon terms, especially in email marketing where there are all sorts of methods one can use to increase sale volume and/or value. Anyone new to our craft should not have to refer to a business dictionary in anyhow-to article. Keep it simple. Most revolutionary techniques can be reduced to nothing more than testing something a little bit different. Cross-selling was in the title to this article so let’s start by defining it. It is little more than offering a customer other items related to a purchase, or intended purchase. If they are somehow complementar ..read more

I’ve had an email from my accountant. Not the concerning moment you might think as I subscribe to their newsletter and ‘incident related’ emails. They obviously know about my job in email marketing and mostly keep the information they send relevant to my needs. That’s something we should all learn from. The personalisation means I always open them. It contained, as I suspected, a breakdown of the recent mini-budget, if that’s the correct term, and how they felt it would affect me and my little business. It was put as likely outcomes, with no fanciful guesses as to the actual amount of any los ..read more

There’s a persistent rumour that price is the most important factor in email marketing. Make your product cheaper and the customers will flood to your door. Don’t believe it. It’s nothing more than a comforter for those who don’t really understand what email marketing is all about. It’s not that easy. You don’t pick a restaurant on price, or at least the cheapest one, if you are going out for a celebration, trying to impress someone or looking for an emotional response. You don’t go for the dearest you can afford. You select for the experience you are likely to enjoy, and helpful staff and th ..read more

Beyond the obvious requirements for an image you select for an email marketing campaign, there are certain subtleties which, if you are not aware of them, can cost you subscribers and hence money. It might not be much, but given the number of images, a little will go a long way. As always, there are few, if any, rules but there are things you should consider. Put two picture editors together and they will argue whether it is better to pick an image which is technically correct with regards to exposure, framing and layout, or to use what is considered the best shot. They are a cantankerous bre ..read more

They are the bane of email marketing. Complaints regarding your compliance with data protection regulations require tact, effort and no little time. You have to approach each complaint, even if it is obvious you’ve done nothing wrong, in exactly the same way. How you respond matters as your reputation could well be at stake and any damage in that respect will cost you subscribers to your email marketing list as well as making it difficult to gain more. Suitably worried? Good, because where many companies go wrong is to treat such complaints casually. Yet steps to remedy the situation to every ..read more

We’ve all been at meetings where a lead we’ve been pursuing is present and we have to approach them cold. There’s a persistent rumour that some people are a natural at this but there’s little doubt introducing themselves to strangers is a skill learnt by multiple failures and successes. Using emails to secure leads for an email marketing list requires different skills. Even the ‘natural’ at putting leads at their ease might struggle with an email as the smile, the extended hand and face-to-face signals such as mirroring are not available. It’s easy to make simple mistakes. A word or phrase ou ..read more