Email marketing techniques: A week ago we discussed the issue of spam emails and asked the question “What was spam?”
The key element was that it was an email sent out to those people who did give you their permission to send them emails in the first place.
An example I gave was receiving permission for sending blog updates to your subscribers but then bombarding them with marketing emails instead.
Here is what I would suggest in such a situation.
- Firstly never bombard anyone with marketing emails. This overkill approach is nothing short of email bullying and should be avoided at all costs.
- When someone signs up for any of your lists (remember you can have lots of different lists with RocketResponder) ensure that you are always upfront and honest with them about what they are signing up to.
- The best way to avoid misunderstandings is to make clear exactly what sort of email communications they will receive in the “welcome email” you send to all new subscribers.
- In this email really draw attention to the fact that people can unsubscribe from your list at any time – including right now. For example they might have signed up in error or after reading your welcome email decided that they do not want to hear from you after all.
It is also a good idea to contact your list – say every six months – to ask them if they are happy to continue receiving emails from you. This serves to remind them of who you are and what you do and serves as an opportunity for you to “take the temperature” of your list. By this I mean you get to see if the people on your list are still interested in hearing from you.
Don’t worry if people unsubscribe – if they don’t want to hear from you then there really is no point in sending them emails in the first place. And the people who do like you will like you even more for having taken the time to send them an email asking how they were.
