Bountiful, satisfying, comforting…no, I’m not describing the Thanksgiving feast everyone will embark on next week, I’m referring to the wonderful Roundtable session we had this morning on Email Marketing Trends and Tips, featuring Ellen DePasquale, Regional Development Director for Constant Contact. Here are just some of Ellen’s do’s and don’ts for successful email marketing that left us all wanting more!

Dos:

• Always maintain a level of professionalism when sending your emails. Make sure your email address is appropriate (e.g. jane.smith@piesbyjane.com is more acceptable than sweetpea23@yahoo.com), and include a signature in every email with your contact information.

• Pay attention to the subject line. Keep it short, include engaging action words, or stress a time-sensitive event (e.g. “341 Roundtable Dec. 9 – Sign-up now”).

• Send around relevant articles that you find online and comment on why you agree/disagree/feel it pertains to your clients’ interests. This is an easy way to build content and stay top-of-mind with your clients.

• Constant Contact allows you to see a list of who among your recipients opened your email and also forwarded it to their contacts. Following-up with a thank-you to those who forward reinforces your relationship.

• Apply a “Social Share Bar” in your emails that will allow your recipients to re-post your message/article to their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Don’ts:

• Don’t use a bought list. Recipients need to opt into your email list. There are many instances of companies buying lists only to find they set off spam alerts.

• Don’t use too many exclamation points, the word “free”, or all-caps type in your subject line. Doing so almost guarantees a trip to the spam bin. Constant Contact offers a Spam Checker option, which will rate your email and notify you of how to reduce your spam-ability.

• Don’t be too wordy or use too many images. Too many images slow down loading. Keep copy brief. If you think there is more information that is valuable to readers, link to your website or the article where more in-depth info can be found.

Email marketing is a timely and very cost-effective tool to keep your business top-of-mind, expand your client database, and grow your business. We are so thankful to Ellen for sharing all her tips on best email marketing strategies.

Click on the links below to get more information.

http://341studios.com/services/web/email-marketing

http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp