Email marketing can be very effective if you do it “right” and gather email addresses yourself instead of buying a list.

1. If you don’t have a newsletter yet, start one. People always want to learn more about their topic of interest. MailChimp.com is a great and very inexpensive web-based email marketing service for publishing newsletters and hosting your mailing lists.
2. Add a subscription form to every page of your website. A footer or sidebar is often a good place to include one.
3. Make it quick and easy for your visitors to sign up. A first name and email address is all you need initially.
4. Include a brief privacy statement in your subscription box or link to a separate privacy policy page.
5. Be clear, persuasive and honest as to what your subscribers will receive and why your visitor will gain by subscribing.
6. Link to past issues so they have an idea of what they will get before they subscribe.
7. Tell them how often they can expect to receive your newsletter or other emails. Do not inundate them.
8. Include a link in every email for subscribers to unsubscribe or change their email address.
9. Offer a discount for purchasers who subscribe to your newsletter.
10. Ask your subscribers to tell their friends about your newsletter. Include a link in the newsletter that enable them to forward an issue to another person.
11. Include subscription information on customer satisfaction surveys. Ask permission to communicate valuable info via email newsletters and promotions.
12. Track the effectiveness of your campaign with services like MailChimp. You can target different campaigns to email addresses that opened your email, came to your site, or forwarded the email to another person.
13. Hand out sign-up cards promoting your newsletter when speaking to groups or at seminars.
14. Display subscription forms at the cash register to receive notice of subscriber-only weekly discounts.
15. Collect email address at each point of contact with customers and prospects.
16. Promote your newsletter in other marketing materials, catalogs, correspondence and other print and online communications.

In summary, the the key points are to

• Make them aware of the email list. Promotion, promotion, promotion!
• Offer them something of added value like special offers, relevant information or tips.
• Tell them and show them what they will get.
• Make it easy and don’t require them to give a lot of information.
• Assure them that they won’t be spammed and that their email address won’t be used for other purposes.

Future postings on this blog and articles in our own newsletter will feature more ways to conduct effect email marketing strategies.

The MailChimp service offers many features that make it easy to manage your lists, compose email newsletters, make it less likely to end up in the junk mail folder, and track the effectiveness of your mailings. Contact us for more information on how we can help you or visit www.mailchimp.com.