By Michelle Greer.
You've created a company newsletter because it's part of the "business plan". Every month or so, you take a look at the deliverability and click-through rates. You know people actually open them. You also know your email marketing campaign needs work. It's just not as exhilarating as building your Twitter following or creating that Colbert Fan Club on Ning.
Although email marketing isn't often associated with Web 2.0, 3.0, or 12.0, people still actively open, read and act upon information from emails. According to a study done by MailerMailer, people open emails just as frequently as they did before the social web, and sometimes more often in certain industries.
How can you be sure that your emails aren't just headed to the trash bin?
1.) Know Your Readers' Hot Buttons
Using hot button search terms in the subject line of your email will improve open rates by 10%. Following open rates with subject lines over time is key.
2.) Keep Subject Lines Short and Sweet
Emails with subject lines that are 35 characters or less get opened almost 33% more often than those with more than 35 characters.
3.) Personalized Emails Make a Difference
Do readers really think you address each email personally with their name? It doesn't matter. Including your readers' first names at the top of your message is especially effective.
4.) Increase the Number of Links in an Email to Improve Click Rates
An utterly obvious but often overlooked solution. The more opportunities you give for readers to click through to your site, the more often they typically do. The report recommends having over 20 links in each email.
5.) Send More, Not Less Emails to Reduce Bounce Rates
What's the sweet spot? Email campaigns that went out a few times a week had the lowest bounce rate at 2.02%. Emails sent less than once a month resulted in a bounce rate hike to 13.57%. Sending emails more frequently will result in less emails marked as spam, as well as a more up-to-date email list.
To see how to juice up your email campaigns while you aren't updating your FriendFeed contacts, read MailerMailer's report.
About Michelle Greer
Michelle Greer is an internet marketer/geek out of Austin, Texas. You can find her writings about ecommerce at onlinebusiness.volusion.com and her social networking blog at michellesblog.net.
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