Wayne Marsh, Technology Writer

The practice of email spamming is definitely increasing. However, email marketing remains the most cost-effective way for businesses to market and communicate with customers and potential customers.

Employing the medium without violating spamming laws or being an annoyance to recipients can be achieved by giving your targets the opportunity to initially opt in and subsequently opt out.

When you receive an opt-in you have received permission to communicate with the individual via email.

The most common way to gain an opt-in online is to encourage your website visitors to subscribe to your mailing list. Usually you must offer something in return such as a report or a chance for the subscriber to win a prize.

You can also receive an opt-in offline by verbally requesting email addresses from customers and potential customers.

Your client list is also your opt-in list as it is expected that you will communicate with them similar to how you would communicate by snail mail.

It is common for business to spend large amounts on mass media campaigns and ignore the opportunity to communicate directly with their own clients.

You should provide an accessible and simple way for your subscribers to opt out of receiving subsequent emails from you.

SUITS SMALL BUDGETS

Since mass media advertising is undisputedly expensive and difficult to measure the results of, email marketing is becoming the logical choice for small and medium-size businesses.

For companies whose marketing budgets are small, it is necessary to ensure that all funding is spent on campaigns that can be proven effective.

There are different email campaign metrics that can be measured, but the most popular are:

1. Number of successfully delivered emails (delivery rate);

2. Number of opened emails (open rate);

3 Number of recipients who responded to the email ('click-throughs');

4. Number of recipients who unsubscribed.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

The first stage of planning a successful email marketing campaign should be to determine your target audience.

To make an email campaign effective, you must understand what your audience truly wants and needs, not simply what you would like to tell them.

Many marketers mistakenly make their message too broad, thinking that it will help them reach a wider audience. The more specifically you target your audience, the more they will relate to your message.

If your product or service would best suit homeowners, don't spend your time marketing to those who live in apartment buildings.

The easiest way to learn these details is by asking relevant questions on your sign-up page.

You have limited time to attract the attention of your prospect online.

The subject line of your email must attract your target market's attention.

The first few lines of your email must quickly speak to what is in it for the reader. You must also get to the point quickly and ensure that you include a call to action for the reader.

COOL WEBSITES, SERVICES

Have you ever wanted to recall an email after you have accidentally hit the send button? Well you can, http://www.bigstring.com/ allows you to do that and more.

You can also create emails that are self-destructing, non-printable, non-forwardable, and more.

Also check out http://services. nexodyne.com/email/index.php to create your own personalised email signature for email accounts such as Hotmail, AOL, MSN and Yahoo.

marshwa@wsiwebprofits.com