One of the most effective of all the ways to promote your products or services online is through the use of email marketing. Sending an email costs nothing so, from a financial standpoint at least, there cannot possibly be any better method of presenting an opportunity to customers than by this means. Within an email it is now possible to embed audio or video files in addition to a text message to catch the attention of potential customers.
With people being bombarded with all kinds of messages via their inbox, how can an internet marketer ensure that the message gets through and isn’t just relegated to the bin without so much as a glance? To answer this requires an understanding of how the elements of an email work in terms of marketing. Every message whether it is on a webpage or in an email has a “most wanted response”.
If you look at the elements of an email the first thing that will catch the eye of the addressee is the Subject Line. The most wanted response here is to get the person receiving the email to open it. If the Subject Line has no impact your message will not get through; – it will fall at the first fence. The Subject Line must whet the appetite, raising a desire to know more. Try to come up with a pithy statement related to your niche which will encourage curiosity. I know that I will often flip through my inbox looking at the Subject Lines; – “I know what that is”; -“Oh, not him again”; – “No idea what that’s about”; – Not interested”; – etc. The majority of emails go straight in the Trash Folder. I will open things which I know relate directly to me or are from friends and colleagues. Every so often something different will leap out at me, catch my imagination and encourage me to open the email. That is the sort of impact you are trying to make with your Subject Line.
The most wanted response to the second element of an email, the body of the message, is to get the addressee to take some form of action which will probably be to click on a link. Whether this link is to a free report or ebook, an informational article, an audio or video message or a sales page will depend upon the purpose of that particular email. Not all emails should be a sales pitch. Those receiving the email may well be on your database, your List, and, therefore, need to be kept informed and diverted by what you send to them. If every email is simply a heavy-handed sales letter just how long do you think they will remain on your list? Keep the message in the body of the email very short and to the point. One sentence should be quite enough encapsulating a reason to take action and an instruction as to how to take that action; nothing more! Your link should then take them to where all their questions will be answered and where you can get your full message across.
In order to get the most value from emails the use of an Autoresponder is essential. These examples of electronic wizardry can be programmed to send out messages whenever you want them sent to whoever you want them sent to. A follow up sequence can be activated when a new person signs up to your list. These emails will be designed to begin building a relationship with the new subscriber not just to bombard them with one sales pitch after another. Once you have won the trust of subscribers it is then quite reasonable to mix in an occasional purchasing opportunity. These are best kept fairly low key, especially in the early days with a new subscriber; “Have a look at this and let me know what you think”. The link will take them either to an Affiliate product or to one of your own products. Never put pressure on your subscribers to buy, it is sure to backfire.
To summarise, the key points:
The Subject Line: the most wanted response is to get people to open the email
The Email body: the most wanted response is to encourage people to click on a link or take some other form of action.
If you can achieve this you will thrive in your internet marketing business.