There are basically two types of direct email marketing.
- Unsolicited Bulk Email
- Opt-in Direct Email
1. Unsolicited Bulk Email
This is the practice of transmitting mass quantities of email to large lists of "unqualified" email addresses.
This practice in itself is a very controversial subject. You must be very careful when considering using bulk email to market your wares on the internet.
Why? Let's just say your reputation is at stake.
Unsolicited bulk email is frowned upon by many internet citizens. You may have heard this practice of sending unsolicited bulk email referred to as "spamming." (Yes, the name comes from the famous comedy skit "Spam! Spam! Spam!" by Monty Python.) In the online world, spamming means sending unsolicited email directly to a list of unsuspecting email addresses or newsgroups.
Just why is bulk email so popular?
Simple. It’s far cheaper than traditional bulk postage mail. The costs associated with traditional bulk mailing can cut deeply into potential profits immediately. Postage costs alone can break the bank. Bulk email is very cheap.
So why not try it?
The simple fact is, unsolicited bulk email is considered bad "netiquette" by many netizens. If you send unsolicited email to addresses that do not want commercial email, you can get into more trouble than you would expect.
What kind of trouble?
- Since a large number of internet citizens DO NOT approve of unsolicited email and WILL complain to your Internet Service Provider (ISP).
- Many ISP’s will discontinue your account when they get complaints from angry recipients of your unsolicited bulk email.
Does sending your ad to thousands of unsuspecting addresses really work anyway? Do you really get any genuinely interested leads mixed in with all those flames? Sure you can. Are they enough to offset all the negative factors of bulk email? NO.
But hey, it's your business and it's your decision. If you want to play it safe though, you should consider the next type of direct email marketing.
2. Opt-In Direct Email
"Opt-In" Direct Email is the practice sending commercial email to recipients that HAVE approved of commercial email. If you really want to try bulk email marketing but aren’t up to the rigors of unsolicited bulk email, consider hiring a company that specializes in direct email or using list management software such as IntelliContact Pro.
In addition to advertising in targeted ezines such as my BizWeb Gazette, you can also "rent" Opt-In Direct Email lists. These opt-in lists are targeted email lists which offer marketers a "politically correct" way to reach their target audience on the net. Not only will your offer be sent to a targeted list, you won't have to worry about flames and ISP cancellation. All recipients have "opted in" to receive offers like yours.
These four factors that have a big impact on your email marketing campaign.
There are four basic factors that directly affect an out come of any emailing campaign. Ask yourself these questions and if you answer "yes" to most of the questions, your campaign is set for success.
1) Email List :
Is the email list people who knows you and expect an email from you? Even though people have found success (to the dread of anti spammer) in bulk emailing, your best success is always been in permission based emailing.
2) Your Subject Line :
Is your subject short and to the point? Is it relevant to the product or service? Best practice in email marketing is never to use deceptive subject line. (Example: "Your statement is ready" is the subject line and when the recipient opens the email, it is about some products.) This practice is illegal. Honesty and respect for your customer and potential costumers is called for. Expedite Email Marketing does not allow deceptive subject lines.
3) Your Message :
Is it in HTML or text? HTML has always yield a better result in email marketing because it is more engaging with pictures. Does your message contain a working linking to where you want your customer to go to? There is nothing more frustrating for your customer than not to have a working link. Is there a working out opt-out link at the bottom of your message? If you use your service - we automatically add a working one for you.
4) Reporting :
Can you tell how many people view your message, how many click thru from message to website, and how many opted out? Every campaign needs a measuring stick and if you are doing email marketing with stats you know what is right and what is wrong.
How a Email Mailing List works :
- Email mailing list are a way for groups of people to have public discussions via email. After you join a mailing list, every message you write to the list can be read by everyone on the list.
- To join a mailing list, you must subscribe to it. You subscribe by sending an email message to the mail list administrator and asking to join the list. To cancel a subscription to the list, you send a cancellation request to the list administrator.
- The email mailing list itself is a database of email addresses of people who have subscribed to it. When you asked to subscribe, you are added to the database.
- When the computer on which the database resides recieves a message to be sent to mailing list, it automatically mails the message to every address in the mailing list database. Some mailing lists are very active, and people on them can get dozens of messages every day. Because of that, it's a good idea to check your mail frequently and clean out your mailbox. Otherwise, you can bog down your mail server, which can make it difficult for you to read your mail because you'll have so much of it.
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