You have a mailing list of eager readers. You have a subscription to Constant Contact or some other mailing service. You have a designer, or a drag-and-drop template. You're all set, right?
Maybe not.
Below are some insider tips and tricks that will basically give anyone enough knowledge about emailing to be dangerous. In the 2 years I was in charge of the Subaru outbound email communications, I read everything I could about spam, email best practices, and getting people to read the emails I designed. I think the below are things that can help anyone improve their email campaigns.
1. Did you know that you should never use "noreply@" as your reply-to address when sending a mass email. Many of the email hosts like Hotmail, Yahoo, Google, etc. will see that and mark your email as spam right away. Using "info@" can be just as bad sometimes. To be safe, use something like "yourbusiness@yourbusiness.com" or "service@yourbusiness.com." Similarly, you should never use your personal email address to send emails either. In the off chance that someone decides to mark that email as spam, YOUR email address will be wearing that scarlet letter - and possibly, it will be very difficult to send to your friends at the email clients who've marked you.
2. Did you know that certain words will make your email more likely to get dumped in the spam folder? Take caution not to use these words, if you can help it and your emails have a much higher chance of being delivered. Read a great list of those words here, in 105 Spam Trigger Words & Phrases That Will Kill Your E-Mail Campaign.
3. Did you know that you're not married to the templates that services like Constant Contact and MailChimp provide? You do have the option to upload your own HTML and images, and therefore you can create your own email exactly the way you want it to look! Of course, if you're not a designer, you'll probably need one to do it. (hint hint)
4. Did you know that when looking at your email stats, the "open rate" isn't really accurate? This is because most people using Outlook can already see the email without having to click to open it. So if your email has a low open rate, that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't a successful email. Take more notice to the clicks within the email, if people are clicking on links to learn more, or visit your website/Facebook/Twitter page. That's a much better measurement than whether or not it's been opened.
5. Did you know that the day and time of day you send your emails make a difference? Sending your emails on the right day, or even at the right time, will definitely bump your chances of being read. Many companies schedule their emails for 3 or 4:00 a.m., thinking they'll be the first in the inbox. But actually, most people read the most recent first - so by the time people get into work, around 8 or 9, that email will be at the bottom of the pile. Why not send the email when people are sitting at their desks? Or, if you want to send to people at home, 6pm probably isn't the right time. Most people check email after dinner, cleanup, etc. You want to get people when they're paying attention, right?
Hopefully some of the above are things you didn't know before - and you can keep them in mind next time you're executing a campaign. Are there any email tricks you've learned along the way, or questions you have about how to get better click rates?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jessica_Kupferman
