Goals you should consider

Reinforcing your brand
Practically every e-mail campaign should be created to meet this objective. But remember that a brand is so much more than the look or feel of what you send, even though e-mail enables you to reinforce this with text and graphics. To truly reinforce your brand, focus on your quality of service, the sense of value you create and the benefits you provide your customers. E-mail is a great way of reinforcing those values. Timely confirmation notices, special offers to your online customers, quick handling of e-mail requests and responses, and conveniently delivered information are just a few ways to build your brand through e-mail.

List Building
There are a few great ways to build your list. Use a permission-based list generated through a third party (preferably an opt-in e-mail company), or grow your list through viral marketing programs. Remember that consumer response to poorly conceived opt in e-mail marketing programs has not been entirely positive. Customers have responded negatively to campaigns where current list members can sign up other people, because this goes against permission practices.

Converting prospects to customers
Sure, you have plenty of names on your list, but remember how many have not bought anything from you. The most successful technique for converting browsers into buyers is enticing customers with something extra. Common examples include free shipping and price discounts. Other examples? Free gifts with purchases, bonus points, or special offers that target their specific interests.

Cross-sell or up-sell your current customers
Acquiring new customers is always a good goal. But maximizing the value of current customers should not be overlooked. Current customers are not only your most valuable sales prospects, but your most highly qualified leads. You offer incentives to new customers, why not offer them to current customers? Ideally, your database should contain the purchase history of current customers so you know which targeted products or services to offer next.

Develop customer loyalty
Unless your e-mail program is solely created to get new prospects, developing customer loyalty should be one of your top objectives. To achieve this goal, create a sense of relevance and value to your customers.

Drive click-throughs to your Web site
If you run an ad-supported Web site, this might be a primary business objective. If your site is designed to drive online purchases, then this may be an ancillary objective. But remember: getting people to click through is usually the first step toward a purchase.

Drive subscription renewals
E-mail is an easy, low-cost method to deliver subscription renewal notices. Adding a clickable URL in the message that links subscribers to a pre-populated.Web form delivers an additional measure of convenience and good service.

Educate and inform you prospects and customers
Every e-mail you send does not need to have a commercial objective. In fact, if you simply provide useful information, you will most likely inadvertently meet your other goals including improving customer loyalty and building your e-mail list. Consumers are more likely to stay tuned to your messages if they’re not always exclusively promotional.

Communicate with other businesses
Companies are starting to realize the value of online business-to-business communication. Just as e-mail builds and improves relationships with customers, it’s also an ideal medium for forging solid relationships with business partners.

Pre-campaign check list

Perform a lengthy internal check
Now that you’ve covered your bases, it’s almost time to aim and fire. But before you pull the trigger, make sure you perform a thorough internal check ensuring that all departments affected by your e-mail campaign are also ready to go. These departments may include sales, inventory, customer service, your Webmaster, etc. Make sure each department is just as prepped to go as you are – there’s nothing worse than sending a convincing e-mail to sell a certain item, only to find out sales department is not prepared to make the transaction.

So, when to send?

Which day of the week? There are numerous theories about which is the best day of the week to deliver your message. Some experts recommend targeting customers over the weekend. If you’re launching a business-to-business campaign, many experts swear by avoiding a Friday send. A recent survey by eROI shows that the best day to send b2b e-mails is Monday or Tuesday. For business-to-consumer (B2C), the answer is more elusive. There are no set-in-stone rules, so you might just want to test and see which day (or days) of the week yield higher response rates.

What time? Mid-morning or right after lunch is historically the best time for an e-mail to arrive in somebody’s inbox.

Get ready to monitor
Once you’ve sent out your message (or messages), you should immediately start monitoring the responses. This includes everything from bounced e-mails to replies to unsubscribes. Early monitoring can solve a slew of problems including broken links and spam issues.

Deliver the E-mail
The final key to your campaign is perfecting your e-mail interface – literally the “face” of your e-mail. Is it easy for your customers to navigate? Does it help you gather the most information about them? The most effective interfaces enable you to do many things: segment your customer database, deliver personal messages to customers, track the results of your campaign and move forward accordingly. Benchmark e-mail’s tools help you track this information.

Great tips for successful e-mail marketing

Offer something to your customers
In exchange for their contact info, offer your customers something in return. This can include a free newsletter, a free seminar, or more information about your products and services.

Be economical about the info you gather
When gathering customer contact information, only ask for the information you need. Asking for unnecessary information not only annoys customers and slows down the process, but it discourages them from signing up.

Make it easy for them to unsubscribe
Make absolutely certain you provide a way for customers to unsubscribe from your e-mail campaigns. Unsolicited e-mail or spam will not only damage your reputation as a business, but jeopardize your future e-mail campaigns.

Constantly manage your contact lists
Think of your list as an ever-evolving document. When someone opts out or wants more info, make sure you update that info on your master list in a very timely manner. Also, since e-mail addresses change frequently, maintain the integrity of your contact list by carefully tracking the number of bounce-backs or undeliverable e-mails after every single campaign.

Don’t bury your privacy policy
Make sure your privacy police is clear, concise, and easy for the customer to find. Respect the terms of your privacy policy and you’ll never breach your customers’ trust.