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Get more from your email marketing campaigns
 | | StreamSend CEO Dan Forootan says email marketing can help create and sustain customer relationships. |
Forrester Research reports there are 145 million active users of email today in the United States alone -- a number predicted to grow to 153 million by 2014. Further, businesses using direct email marketing campaigns enjoy a return on investment that is 2 to 3 times higher than with any other form of direct marketing. "To reach new customers, email has emerged not only as a cost-effective, high-ROI tool, it has also become a brand tool that can help create and sustain customer relationships at different levels," says
Dan Forootan, president and CEO of email marketing solutions provider
StreamSend
. "While competition keeps heating up to reach inboxes, the need to respect customers' individual needs and wants with email has become equally important."
To get the most from your email marketing campaigns, Forootan advises following these rules:
1. Use newsletters to communicate regularly with customers.
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Make them relevant, valuable, timely, and tailored to customer needs.
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Design emails so they are easy to read and provide the primary information clearly.
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Know the type of device on which they receive and read emails, and design accordingly.
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Send on a regular schedule so messages are expected.
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Keep subject lines short; less than 50 characters is ideal.
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Use a consistent "from" address. Customers open email messages they are expecting to receive.
2. Give options and set expectations.
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Kick off the relationship with a welcome letter where you can set terms and expectations.
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Provide customers only with information they need or would like to receive.
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Find out when and how frequently they would like to receive it.
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Tell them how frequently they'll hear from you, and stick to your promise.
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Segment lists to best match customer needs.
3. Make emails "work" for customers.
4. Keep it personal with "triggered" communications.
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Send date-based triggers to remind customers of action needed to continue providing uninterrupted service.
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Recommend products or information that may meet their needs.
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Recognize milestone dates, such as birthdays and anniversaries, or thank them for time as your customer.
5. Interact with customers.
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Whenever possible, encourage customers to interact with you. Ask for their opinions, and offer surveys or polls.
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Listen to feedback and use it.
6. Make sure they still want to hear from you.
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Maintain good list hygiene and remove hard bounces or registered complaints.
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If a customer hasn't opened an email in a certain amount of time, send them an email asking if they would like to continue receiving your communications.
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No matter what, always remove and respect unsubscribes.
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President's corner: Power to the pixel!
We live in such an amazing time.
 | | Tom Rieger, AIE president |
Nothing is more powerful than the picture. Time and time again in the past century or so, images have stirred people in ways that would not have happened without the visual impact of the photograph. In the age of newspaper and print journalism, striking truths revealed beyond doubt the hard reality of a photograph compelling people to action. As time went by, that came to include motion pictures and television -- and the world has never been the same.
Enter the cell phone, the digital camera, and the era of social networking websites to distribute these images and thoughts. We've made a leap on the evolutionary scale that can be marked in time by the current unrest in Iran. Governments have always been able to control their populations' thoughts and actions by manipulating access to information. The tables have now turned to where it is much more difficult for governments to contain the spread of information and, therefore, control their people. The age of closed and repressed societies is coming to an end. Mark the date.
In a very real way, our industry can take credit for making this possible. Everyone who has had a hand in the development of digital imaging can feel proud, as can everyone who has ever bought or sold a digital camera. By validating the existence of digital imaging, we have all helped create a new world order, where the free flow of ideas, images, and information cannot be stopped. We have all contributed to the breakdown of the communications barriers that are, in the end, the root of so much of the troubles in the world. Who could have predicted
Facebook and
Twitter could empower populations' to challenge their governments?
AIE now has a Facebook presence. Please join us in exchanging thoughts and information. We won't be causing social unrest or riots in the streets, and most of us are not revolutionaries; but in our own little way, participation might make a difference.
Who ever thought our industry would turn out to be so important?
Tom Rieger
AIE president
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For global imaging and business news, visit Newsline International on the web
For comprehensive international imaging and business news, add a Newsline International bookmark to your "Favorites," and remember to check each day. If you miss a day, you can look at news from previous days. There is also a weekly news link that includes worldwide imaging news. You can also sign up to receive an email notification each day through the Newsline-Notifier function. You'll find it only online, Monday through Friday. The site is updated at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time.
© PMA 2009. All rights reserved.
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