How to Use Email as a Marketing Tool

Email is a resource that all people share. With Internet Cafés and free email accounts, there is practically no one who doesn't have an email account. However, what people don't realize is that it is a powerful marketing tool.

There are three techniques that you can use when marketing your product or service by email:

1) You can email your sales letter directly to your customers and include a link to your order form. 2) You can use the "two-step" approach that involves mailing a letter to your customers containing information that will be of interest to them… and directing them with a link to your actual sales copy. 3) You can email the businesses online that deal directly with your target market to discuss promoting/selling your product on their sites.

Whatever method you choose, there are some key steps that you need to follow if you want your email campaign to be successful:

Step 1: Email a "targeted" list of people who will be interested in your offer.

Focus your energy on the people that that want your product. Those who have opted-in to your mailing list and your customers are all excellent prospects.

Step 2: Personalize each email

We found that when we personalize email our response rate increases up to 64%.

People are more likely to read email that is addressed specifically to them and that presents their email address in the "To:" field.

Step 3: Your Subject Line is Key!

Good subject lines make the difference between email that automatically hits the trash bin and email that is opened and read. The key here is to emphasize benefits.

Some examples of good subject lines might be:

"Learn how you can safely lose 30 pounds in 4 weeks!" "Get a better rate on your mortgage using this secret trick!" "Ten steps you can use to cut the time you spend doing your taxes by 25%."

Do you know which subject line/headline has worked well for many emailers, no matter what they are selling? It's the headline "What's in it for me?" It's the best pulling headline/subject line by far - it works like wildfire!

Step 4: Your entire sales pitch should be summarized within the first paragraph.

The first paragraph should refer to your headline, building further excitement and motivating your potential customer to continue reading. Just because you've convinced them to open the email with a compelling subject line doesn't mean that you're home free. You need to build more excitement and make them curious about what's to come!

Again, the key is focus on benefits.

Step 5: Test your email on a small percentage of your opt-in list.

This is one of the most important techniques that I teach; yet, so few people actually do it. When trying to increase the response to your offer, you want to test the headline or opening paragraph, your offer, and your pricing. Be sure that you test these three things one at a time so you can accurately measure the results.

Step 6: Make it easy to read.

The formatting you choose can make or break your sales campaign. If the email is difficult to read, then people aren't going to waste their time trying.

Some tips for effective formatting includes:

* Keep your email messages simple and neat. * Avoid technical jargon that the recipient won't understand. * Never compose an entire message using ALL CAPS! It looks like you're yelling, it's hard to read, and it's rude. * Some older email programs don't have "word wrap," so turn the "word wrap" feature off and manually hit "enter" at the end of each line. Keep each line at least 65 characters per line.

Step 7: Be sure that your email is easy to reply to.

If there is an email address listed in your message, make sure you have the "mailto:" prefix before it. You should do this because most email programs have a "hotlink" feature that will allow users to simply double-click on the email address to automatically start a new email.

When a URL is mentioned in an email, it should have the "http://" before it. Again, you should do this because most email programs have a 'hotlink" feature that will automatically load the web browser when the user clicks on the URL.

Step 8: Develop a killer signature file.

An electronic signature - also known as a "sig file" - is a three to six line footer that you can attach to the bottom of your email messages and public forum postings.

It tells the person you're writing to exactly who you are and how they can contact you. You can include your autoresponder address, your email address, your office telephone number, your company name and slogan, etc… whatever you like.

Why Avoid Using the BCC Field

Many spammers use the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field of their regular email client to send their email. They cut and paste their email list into the BCC field that recipients won't be able to see how many people the email has been sent to.

The public has caught onto this trick, however, and many people have started filtering out any email received where their email address doesn't appear in the "To:" or "CC:" field. The message is assumed spam and automatically deleted.

Email does work is done correctly. It's the best marketing tool around.

Harry is a freelance writer, computer consultant, and Internet marketer. His writing projects include ghostwriting, copywriting, web site content, DTP, editing, and technical writing. His computer consulting work includes installation, setup, and troubleshooting computer systems. His credits include articles for Internet Day, Internet World, Advertising Today, Advertising Age, L-Advertising, Computer Edge, and a host of others. Harry recently published a book on computer repair and copywriting. You can check out his samples and what he offers at his site by going to http://www.writeformedia.com/portfolio.htm.

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