Let’s begin with the most important information first. Here is a Top 10 Countdown on the important tips for anyone managing the email marketing process from my perspective. Tips Five through One will be coming next week!
#10 Build Your List at Every Opportunity
Build your list at every opportunity you have. If you have a retail location, add a point-of-sale sign up form. At conferences or events, ask everyone you speak with if you may add them to your list after you exchange business cards. Finally, add your newsletter sign-up form to every page on your web site. You can even use the sign-up form generator within IntelliContact to automatically generate the code you need.
#9 Avoid Excess Punctuation or Capitalization
Don’t use ALL CAPS or multiple exclamation marks within your subject line or body. Doing this will trigger spam filters.
#8 Include both Plain Text and HTML
Be sure to include both a plain text and an HTML version of your newsletter. IntelliContact will automatically detect which subscribers can view the HTML message and which can only see the plain text message. If you don’t include a plain text message, around 5% of your recipients will see a message with nothing in it.
#7 Familiarity Encourages Opens
Make the From Name for your messages either your company name or the name of a person at your company. Once you choose a From Name, keep it consistent. During the split second decision subscribers make whether to open your email, the most important factor in their decision is whether the From Name is familiar to them.
#6 Add a Note about Deliverability
To improve message deliverability, add a message at the top of your emails that says something like: "To ensure receipt of our emails, please add [email protected] to your Address Book."
