5 Life Lessons That Apply to Email Marketing
It can be easy to think of email marketing as this impenetrable thing that only someone with a lot of tech and marketing experience could attempt.
There are good reasons to get involved with email marketing – it’s the best, most personal way to reach people and is a low-cost investment to increase sales. I’m going to break it down for you in a way that will show you that, guess what, a lot of this stuff you already know. You can take on the world of email marketing, learn and have fun while you’re at it.
Your reputation matters
Nobody wants a bad reputation. Conversely, a good reputation can get you a job promotion or a recommendation from a customer. This plays out in the world of email marketing, as well.
Every person who sends emails, whether from a personal or a corporate account, has an email sender reputation. This score helps Internet service providers (ISPs) determine if you are legitimate or not. A good score means it’s highly likely that your email campaigns end up in the inbox. On the other hand, a bad score may cause your emails to land in the spam folder or not even get delivered.
Obviously, you want a solid sender reputation, so how do you build it – or improve it if you’ve tarnished it?
One of the most important things you can do is make sure you use an accurate email list. The thing is even the best of lists will deteriorate over time and therefore need maintenance. A reputable email checker will identify all of those troublesome email addresses (invalid, catch-all, spam traps, role-based, and more) so you can remove them. Every organization needs email list validation. It’s best practices 101.
Know who your friends are
In life, it’s always important to know and remember who your friends are. If people don’t get you or relate to you, letting go of them makes room for those who do.
That applies to your email list, too. You can’t buy friends and you shouldn’t buy an email list either, it should grow organically. Purchasing subscribers is illegal in certain countries. On top of that, it will increase your spam complaints which directly affects your email sender reputation.
Get rid of people who talk badly about you
Some email subscribers are not your friends. In fact, they talk badly about you. In the industry, they’re referred to as malicious or abuse emails. They often mark email newsletters that they signed up for as spam. Sometimes they do it for no reason at all. Other times, they forget they ever subscribed. You don’t want people who call your good, consensual emails spam!
When you get those people off your list you can concentrate on the people who want to be there. And oh, make sure it’s easy for those who don’t want to be on your email list to get off. Have a visible, functioning unsubscribe button. They can see themselves out.
Be consistent
Consistency is the key to success in just about anything. Whether it’s weight loss and physical fitness or learning a new skill, you have to stay at it. So it goes with email marketing as well.
By sending emails consistently, you’ll develop your own style and a better rapport with your readers. Furthermore, by sending emails around the same time every week (or month), you’re more likely to increase your engagement. Your readers will come to expect your emails because they know when you send it out.
So, try to be as consistent with your email newsletters as you are the other parts of your life. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it. Consistency gets results!
Be of service
In life, those who are of service are valued. Usually a hiring manager is thinking about what someone can do for the company. “Why should we give him/her the position?” If all you did was ask about pay and benefits, it would make them think that you didn’t care about being of service. That’s what it’s really all about, right?
An email newsletter that isn’t of service is like a comedian without jokes. So, give your subscribers something they can use, even if it’s simply entertainment. Also, send information, tips, helpful news so you can compel your readers to open your emails.
It’s not surprising to me how email newsletters or promotions that give away a lot tend to have the most to gain. I remember a biscuit bakery that gave away their biscuit recipe in one of the newsletters. You’d think that wouldn’t be a good idea, but instead, it only makes them seem secure in themselves. Interestingly enough, it makes you like them even more, doesn’t it?
You have to go for it
Just like in life, nobody’s going to do it, but you. It may be intimidating, but many of the biggest lessons in email marketing you’ve already learned by cruising down the highways and backroads we call living. The more authentic you are in your email campaigns, the better they will be. Now go forth and email!
