It seems that scatter-gun emailing still a viable way to educate consumers about a brand, from the amount of irrelevant stuff that was yet again in my inbox when I logged in this morning.
Yes, I think it’s great that email marketing is on the up; brands are increasingly recognising it as a brilliant form of targeted communication that can deliver a call to action straight to your consumer. That said, any form of marketing that is mis-targeted, badly composed or difficult to respond to should be classified as junk. And unfortunately, a hefty percentage of email marketing is just that.
Email marketing isn’t brain surgery – there are simple steps to ensure that your work doesn’t end up in the deleted items, such as be clear in your subject line, deliver the best possible content and give your customers options. Your customers should be spreading the message for you. So many companies spend huge amounts generating fresh leads for their campaigns but neglect to highlight to customers they can forward the message on.
And keep your data fresh - if your emails are part of regular communications make sure users can link through to update their data. This also means you are far more likely to avoid “unsubscribe me” and the dreaded “report as spam” button.
Consumers want to be engaged, not bombarded. Engage, make it easy to respond and keep the lines of communication open, and everything else will fall into place.
Simon Bowker, UK Managing Director, eCircle
Member since: 12 Nov 2008
Last login: 25 Nov 2009
Total Posts: 1
