Ten 2007 New Year's Resolutions for Email Marketing

Got enough resolutions for the year yet? Been bombarded with lists? Well here's another! Each year we all do a little reflecting of what we can do differently or better in the new year.

I took a look at our own email marketing efforts and put a little list together of what we all should be thinking about as we plan for our email campaigns in the coming year. Hope they help kick it off right for ya!

1. Ask (ok beg) your web designer to stop creating “image-only” emails. Tell them that you know they create lovely emails, but that in order for you to get a better response, you need for your users to see your content. That said, you need a mix of both text and graphics. Why? If your recipient has their reader set so that images are "turned off", the first thing they'll likely see is your text and not your unsubscribe message. (Not to mention image-only emails rank higher as spam.)

2. Create a calendar of email campaigns now for the first three months of the year. Pin it on your bulletin board and stick to it.

3. Put a sign up book on your counter if you have an offline business. At checkout tell your customer they’ll get customer-only deals, then give it to them!

4. Take a small segment of your list and test a new subject line to see if your open rate will increase.

5. Call the recipients who have bounced and get their updated email address.

6. Put a newsletter sign-up form or link on each page of your site or your blog, even if you’re a retailer.

7. Keep your subject line short and and to the point. Try for less than 40 characters.

8. Use personalization wherever you can. Thank your customers for buying {Product x}.

9. Include more links to allow more click through.

10. Make some money!

Got any resolutions that you're going to abide by? Comment away!

Comments

[Janine]

Thanks Darla! Which specific things did you test that gave you a better response? Might be helpful for all to know. Happy New Year!

[Darla Dixon]

I took your earlier advice on direct emails and I did get a better opening rate AND a better sales response. I would like to encourage anyone reading this to give your advice a try!

[Jackie Kuehl]

We also have a standard practice of including a form with the 'offer' right in the e-mail. The recipient can fill in the form and send, right in the e-mail. Each click looses some people. Why make someone work so hard?

This has increased our response rates tremendously.