Do's and Don'ts of Email Marketing

In 2014, a McKinsey study states that emails are 40 times more effective in acquiring customers than social media. Start with this essential list of do’s and don’ts to create effective and informative emails that customers engage with rather than those that remain unopened or get junked.

Do’s

• Be relevant: Excellent content with a creative touch promotes interest among readers. Subject lines should be short and relevant.
• Personalize: We love personalized emails, don’t we? Also, being responsive to varied interests and demographics cuts through clutter and creates an immediate connection with the reader.
• Be clear and concise: Try to get all information up there in as little words possible. As Einstein said, “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
• Be consistent: Send emails at regular intervals while balancing frequency and freshness of content. Most email service providers allow you to schedule emails at specific days and times.
• Proof read: Check. Double check. Triple check. Ensure all links work and appear perfectly.
• Provide contact details: Don’t lose an opportunity to have them contact you. Consider including your various points of contact such as website, email, social media, blog, phone, physical address and map.
• Honor unsubscribes: Offer people an option to opt-for an alternate form of communication.
• Ensure compatibility: Nearly 45 percent of emails are now opened on mobile devices, so optimize for various devices viz. mobiles and tablets.
• Include call to action: What do you want your customers to do? Enquire? Visit website? Visit store? Buy? Avail an offer? Highlight it in an easy, evident and enticing way. Bright colored buttons with embedded links are the fad.

Don’ts

• Irrelevancy: Low-quality content and subject line mismatch fail to provide the reader with what they’re looking for.
• No proof reading: Incorrect details, spelling errors, broken links, incomplete texts are a huge reason for reader disappointment.
• Text overload: Remember we are sending marketing emails, not writing novels. Respect your reader’s time and you’ll get the response you need.
• Email irregularity: Sending too many emails is intrusive and a can cost you a faithful subscriber. Remember they have that oh so powerful ‘unsubscribe’ option.
• Heavy emails: Don’t we know too much of anything is bad. Well even more so if your email won’t load before the reader loses patience. Use graphics and other heavy elements like salt and pepper, but don’t overdo it to ruin the whole meal.
• No call to action: Failure to let the reader know what they have to do may mean that they ‘do nothing’. You should have a reason to send an email, and once that’s clearly defined, make it as plain as the nose on your face.

That’s all folks. Looks like you’re up to speed on the best practices to pump up those dismal open and click rates. Go on, lead your emails to a grateful inbox not fateful junk.

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Marketing and Sales are NOT Synonyms

Do you use the words marketing and sales interchangeably? Learn the difference and have informed conversations.

While marketing and sales functions are interrelated and highly relevant for each other, there’s a need to differentiate between them. For a sole proprietor or small firm, the marketing and sales functions may overlap indistinguishably and be carried out by the same people. However, for any sizable business, marketing and sales are specific specializations that require distinct approaches.

Marketing (Strategic)

Marketing is a strategic function focusing on need analysis, awareness and consumer-brand alignment. It’s an aggregate of various units including segmentation, targeting, positioning, marketing mix (product, price, placement, promotion, people, processes, physical evidence) and communications mix (advertising, personal selling, public relations, direct marketing) among others. It’s a strategic role that defines the best way to position the organization’s products and services in the minds of customers. The focus is on understanding and resonating with stakeholders, building a brand and aligning cross-departmental efforts in this direction.

Sales (Tactical)

Sales on the other hand is a tactical function that operates as the execution arm of marketing. It is the actual act of selling the product or service in return for money or other benefits. Sales too has a strategic element, whereby the sales personnel have to device an appropriate plan to map demand, attract and engage prospects, close deals and maintain relationships.

Evident above, in spite of the contrast between the concomitant roles of marketing and sales, they are both congruently aligned in their objective to build a desirable and sustainable brand. Sales may not be able to reach revenue targets without an effective marketing plan and marketing objectives hold no meaning without an effective sales team for implementation.

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