Ebits.ie

Posts Tagged ‘email lists’

What type of emails should you send out?

This is a question I get a lot and many people do the wrong thing.  Here’s the deal someone has signed up for you newsletter to get more information and not to be sold to. Get this into your head straight away. You have to provide information. Here’s a sample of what I do:

Message 1 – sent right away once they confirm. Hi [name], here’s the link to the free report you requested, I’ll touch base with you in a few days to see how you’re getting on.

Message 2 – sent about 4 days later. Hi [name] just wondering if you got the download ok, hit reply if you have any questions. This one is a great puller, I get so many replies saying “thanks for the email” etc. It’s personal and caring!

Message 3 – 10 – sent about every 4 days after message previous message.  I begin to go thru the contents of the report. Explain it a bit more.

By message 10 the people have been with me for about 40 days, I’ve built up a relationship and they know me a little. Message 11 might be a message re a product I came across or a service I offer that might interest them – not it’s not a sales pitch, simply a review or a “I saw this and thought of you” type email.

Remember don’t sell, advise and recommend!

Email Marketing – Using Double Optin

If you’re going to ask people for their name and email address in order to join your list you need to make sure that your mailing list program is using double optin. This means that after the person signs up an email is automatically sent to them asking them to confirm their desire to be on your list. This is used so you do not get accused of spam.

Because the person had to open their email and click on a link this proves that they did in fact request to join your list. If you do not use double optin a person might sign up under someone elses email just for the “crack” or “hell of it”. The unsuspecting other person starts to revieve emails from you and gets annoyed. They can then accuse you of spamming them as you can not prove it was they who actually signed up for your list.  Be very careful of this. The last thing you want is to be accused of spam.

Before buying an email marketing service ask if they provide double optin features. Although it means your visitor who signs up needs to take an extra step in order to join your list the advantage is two fold. Firstly you know they want to join your list. Secondly it covers you against spam complaints.

In my next post I’ll talk about how to build the relationship with your list.