Say the words “email marketing” to an average Joe and the two words will enter their ears, and somewhere along the lines mix together into one word comprised of four letters: “s”, “p”, “a”, and “m”. This doesn’t mean that all email marketing is spam, it just means that a lot of people have been on the receiving end of bad email marketing mixed with scams. Being lumped into that category in someone’s mind by association is never a good thing, but there are literally a tonne of ways to avoid the infamous “spam” tag.
Talking about trends here are some bad ones for subject lines you may have seen if you ever check your “spam” folder: overuse of dollar signs ($$$$$), and also misleading information. The latter is probably the worst offense as it brews distrust by, say, offering a free product in the subject, and then revealing halfway down your landing page that it’s only under x monetary conditions. A good subject line should be clear, concise, and appealing. You’re not trying to trick your subscriber’s list – you’re trying to work with them in an informing and useful way. Otherwise they’re just going to blacklist you – and then its game over my friend. In the subject line just tell them what your email is about and what you need them to do: “Click here for great Pizza Land offers”, for example.
Some new trends have emerged recently regarding subscriber engagement recently. Email marketing used to be more or less like fishing – throwing out the net and catching even 30% of the list would be a fairly good day. Now, with increasing technology, you can aim to bring that number up to about 90%-95%, all with good knowledge and engagement of your subscriber lists. E-mail segmentation is a fantastic way to do this and can be done using iContact’s email marketing services. You send out a batch, identify the subscribers that aren’t opening your e-mails, and then target them with increasingly specific offers designed to get them. The specificity is great if you have a decent knowledge of your subscriber list, as it allows you multiple chances to get them in a way that you can tailor specifically to them.
There are also some trends you should follow when it comes to your landing page. Landing pages nowadays tend to be similar to the subject line: clear, concise, and appealing. If you’re only familiar with creating web 1.0-type websites, then you’ve got a potential problem on your hands. The subject of your marketing should be clear right off the bat with your landing page, and it should be super easy – the easiest thing in the world – for the user to achieve what you want them to achieve, be it filling out a survey or checking out a product. Have the survey right there on the page, with curved text boxes and nice little drop down boxes. It goes without saying to not ask too many questions in a survey. It needs to be there, and presents, and good to go. When it comes to products it should be right there – use an image. Let them see it straight-away. Gone are the days where you’d have a landing page with a whole sales pitch written out and animated .gifs. It’s got to be clear and easy on the eyes. Let the website do the talking. Then afterwards maybe the user will be talking – recommending your service to friends perhaps. Then you’ve really succeeded. And how? By following the trends of 21st century 2012 email marketing techniques. The good trends, I mean. Don’t get bogged down in that old-fashioned stuff from the 90s, or you’re only going to end up relegated to the spam folder.
