If you are new to the task of managing an email marketing campaign then you can be forgiven if you are a little uncertain as to how best to implement a strategy. Help is at hand with these useful hints which should act as a helpful guide.

1) Make sure that you build up a mailing list of contacts who will be interested in your products or services. Tempting as it may be to purchase a mailing list or collect a list of addresses by alternative means, these people will not have consented to receive your emails. Not only is this a legally questionable practice, but you will just end up with lots of angry recipients all wanting to unsubscribe. This can only damage your company\’s image.

2) Ensure that your email campaign confirms new subscribers via an opt-in email. This will help to prevent fake emails being added to your contact list or people subscribing on behalf of others just for the sake of annoying them. Confirmation emails should also be sent in the instance where there is a change to your customers order.

3) make sure that your emails contain interesting, varied information. One of the goals of your campaign will be to maintain a constant \’dialogue\’ between company or customer so the last thing they will want to see is the same information time and time again. Email marketing is most effective when the customer receives information about what interests them specifically. Try to collect as much information about your customer as possible so that you will be able to tailor emails so their particular tastes.

4) Segmenting your mailing list is one of the most effective things you can do. Dividing your list of contacts into separate demographics will enable you to target your customers more precisely.

5) It should go without saying that you should strive to make your emails as pleasing on the eyes as possible. Try to make your emails strike a balance between graphics and text. You should avoid text heavy emails at all costs as all this will serve to do is put people off.

6) Make sure that you promote offers that will be enticing to your customers. Mailing list only offers can be a good incentive to get people to sign up to your contact list. Discounts, limited offers and free gifts are always popular options.

7) Whilst email marketing is a simple and quick way to communicate with your customers it is important that you don\’t take advantage of this fact too much. It can be tempting to send out emails whenever you fancy, however you may actually find that less is more. Don\’t flood your recipient\’s inbox and find yourself relegated to the spam folder.

8) Don\’t forget that email marketing is not one-way traffic. If your customers reply then make sure you reply in a timely manner. A late or non-existent response will just be the hallmark of an unprofessional company.

9) Make sure that your company has a privacy policy and ensure that your readers know how to find it.

10) It is a legal requirement that your emails contain an option for your recipients to opt out. Make the process quick and simple otherwise this will just make for a frustrating experience which will only tarnish your company\’s reputation further.

Trevor Richards writes for Extravision (www.extravision.com), a leading UK email marketing company.

Trevor Richards writes for Extravision (http://www.extravision.com), a leading UK email marketing company.

Author Bio: Trevor Richards writes for Extravision (www.extravision.com), a leading UK email marketing company.

Category: Advice
Keywords: email marketing, email campaign, ecommerce, internet marketing, e-commerce, sales, business