One argument in favor of email marketing is its uniquely interactive nature. By employing opt-in lists, for example, people essentially volunteer to receive sales and marketing messages — which increases the likelihood that the messages will be read. Other key benefits of email marketing include speed, the ability to measure impact, and perhaps most importantly, the fact that it can be personalized. With proper list management, a marketer can know, and use, exactly the information and messaging that will best influence each individual contact.
There are also a few obstacles to email marketing success — including, ironically, technology. In recent years, technology has made it increasingly difficult for all marketers to get their messages to media-weary audiences. DVR allows consumers to fast-forward through commercials. Satellite radio provides commercial-free programming. Pop-up blockers and firewalls help people avoid Internet ads. And yes, spam filters can prevent email marketing from ever reaching an inbox. In fact, about 20 percent of emails sent by commercial marketers do not reach their final destination because of such filters.
The solution? Don’t be spam. Make sure you provide useful information to people who want to receive it. A good first step toward that goal is careful, ongoing contact list management — including an occasional trim. Many businesspeople have a small obsession with collecting contacts — but more isn’t necessarily better when it comes to email marketing. Studies have shown that lists kept at 1,000 contacts or less are most successful. Once a list exceeds 1,000 contacts, it’s time to segment it into smaller groups according to common interests or characteristics. The more email marketing is custom-tailored for your contacts, the less likely it will be considered spam by a discerning viewer.
The email subject line is another key to avoiding classification as spam since filters work by looking for certain trigger words presumed to signify spam. Of course, people also filter their email manually. If they do not know who an email is from, they will delete it without a second thought. Therefore, you should clearly identify your company as the sender in the “from” address and/or the subject line. This is also valuable in that even if a person chooses not to open the email, they at least see your name, reinforcing name recognition.
Be wary of overexposure, however, even with receptive readers. Most people have experienced this at some point — you sign onto an email list of a company or organization you’re genuinely interested in, but suddenly you’re receiving an email from them every other day. You don’t have time to read this many emails, so they start piling up unopened. Eventually, you become annoyed and simply delete them as they arrive, or perhaps even mark the address as spam. How much email marketing is too much? That varies depending on the relationship between the sender and receiver, the amount of information sent and its use value, and other factors. But most email marketers recommend that a monthly email is sufficient in getting your message out without risk of becoming a nuisance.
Email is a powerful, versatile marketing medium that should not be overlooked when considering how to reach and impact your target audiences. That may mean using email to initiate a viral marketing campaign, as have companies as diverse as Gmail, Honda, Heinz, and Microsoft. It may simply mean cutting costs and amplifying memorability by using interactive email in place of traditional sales letters. Or it may even mean emailing articles like this to encourage a thoughtful dialogue with current and potential clients on topics of mutual interest.
As part of Kolbrener’s fall intern program, we asked each of our three interns to write an article on marketing. They were encouraged to consult with senior staff to sharpen their insights and polish their prose, with the incentive that the best essay would be published on our Web site. We were so impressed with their work, and the relevance of their topics for our readers, that we decided to publish all three. You’ve Got a Marketing Tool was written by Tanya Ferrell, a junior Advertising major at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh who is also president of the school’s AD Club.
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