Thursday, February 22, 2007

HTML Email Marketing Tips

Use Receptor Name to Address: Most people ignore emails which are not addressed to them as junk/bulk emails. To avoid your HTML email marketing from giving out such mixed signals, it’s important to address the individual receptors with their name.


Use Your Name in “From” Field and Brand Name as Subject: People usually ignore automated emails or those sent by strangers and those who they don’t recognize (mail@mail.ffff.com). Use your name in from field and brand name in subject field in all the email you send. This will increase the viewer’s trust for you.


Avoid $$$ in Your HTML Email: Most of the spam contains “$$$” symbol in the subject or in body part of email. Hence, this creates a mental block in the user that every email that contains different symbols such as “$&%^#@” is spam and its better to delete it. This is the reason why you avoid using symbols in your HTML email marketing.

Send Your HTML email newsletter on Business days: On weekends or holidays people usually do not check their email, which gets piled up until they come back to work. Hence, while going through their overloaded mail-box, they usually do not much pay as much attention to each message as they would have paid otherwise, thereby sometimes resulting in the deletion of important emails. Hence, it’s better not to send your HTML email newsletter on holidays or months which contain a lot of holidays (eg. December, January, July and August).

Incorrect Email Address: Most of the users who are interested in receiving your HTML email newsletter may not get it; for the simple reason that during filling the signup form for HTML email on your site they had mistyped their email address. Correcting these errors on your part is only a temporary solution. For a permanent solution, use two text boxes for email verification just like you use for password verification. This will reduce the number of errors in the typing out of the email address.

Clear Perspective: Certain HTML email newsletters are eye catching they include everything that can grab viewer attention except a clear call to action. Irrespective of how good your HTML email newsletters might be otherwise, if your viewer doesn’t understand where to click and where to go, the entire purpose of having an HTML email newsletter is defeated. So design the message in such a way that makes the path clear for the recipient. Do not include too many links and offers in your HTML email to keep the viewer’s attention from getting diverted.

Emphasize on Content: Putting an exclamation mark on a particular line or phrase is not the right way to emphasize on an idea. Avoid using exclamation marks; and if you do use them, then do so as sparingly as possible. Instead lay more emphasis on the phraseology. Take care that the content in your HTML email is in proper flow and rhythm.

Reply to Email: Last but not the least, reply to all your emails within 24 hours. It is important because if somebody sends you an email that means he or she is interested in obtaining your product or availing your services. If you do not reply to his or her email, you will lose the customer will lose interest in you and you will lose him or her for life. What is worse is that he or she can influence other potential customers as well against you.