Best E-Mail Marketing Practices

1. Inform and promote the benefits of your mailings

Inform your target audience of your e-mail marketing service, its benefits and the frequency of your mailings. The mailings must be valuable for every subscriber and can include last minute offers or an electronic customer newsletter with special offers for subscribers only. You can use both online and offline efforts, such as your website or offline marketing materials, to attract an audience.

2. Obtain permission via double opt-in

Allow your future subscribers to give you their permission by subscribing themselves to e-mail lists from your website. It is helpful to have a dedicated page for this. Remember to include information on how subscribers can unsubscribe.

The double opt-in subscription type is best because it provides explicit permission from subscribers. As a security measure, an automated confirmation message requiring a recipient action (for example, a click on a link in the message) is sent to the recipient. Only after clicking on this link will the person be subscribed to the list. This procedure verifies the e-mail address of the recipients and their desire to receive future messages. It functions as an opt-in confirmation and protects against false subscriptions by third parties.

Once a subscriber is added to an e-mail list, an automated welcome message can also be sent. This message can provide further information about the e-mail marketing service. It is a good way to include opt-out instructions. Ask the recipient to save the message.

3. Provide a prompt opt-out

In order to avoid "please remove me from your list" messages that will have to be manually processed, it is imperative to provide very clear instructions on how the subscribers can automatically unsubscribe when the mailings are no longer relevant to them. This results in prompt unsubscriptions, and the risk of human errors, such as forgetting to promptly remove someone from the list, are minimized.

It is also good to send an automated unsubscribe confirmation message to subscribers. The advantage is that the recipient knows that the signoff was successful. An automated farewell message can also be sent. This message provides an opportunity to thank, ask for feedback or leave a positive final impression of the e-mail marketing service.

If your e-mail marketing messages are not only interesting and relevant but also wanted and expected by your recipients, you will see your e-mail marketing efforts bring the best results.