E-mail Marketing: How to build loyalty and stay out of the s by Ian Lurie

It's easy to spam if you're not careful. Read on to learn how to sell via e-mail without driving your customers crazy.
Somehow, while I wasn't looking, America has developed a new threat: Spam. It clogs e-mail boxes, bogs down corporate servers and the Internet, and kills productivity. The Internet, I'm told, is doomed because of evil, smarmy firms shotgunning millions of e-mails pushing everything from generic Viagra to digital cameras.

With this argument comes the corollary that all e-mail marketing is bad. And that's simply not true. There is a right way to conduct an e-mail marketing campaign. Done right, e-mail marketing works - our clients see great boosts in site traffic and sales, and they have never received a spam complaint.

Done wrong, and your best intentions may go awry - most ISPs and businesses use automated spam filters, and a poorly designed but completely legitimate e-mail campaign can easily get caught and marked as 'junk'.

How can you use e-mail as a marketing tool, and not get tagged as a spammer? Stick to these rules:

Opt-In Only

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, defies easy definition. But here's a short version:

Only send e-mail to those who expressly ask for it. Put a simple form on your web site - all you really need is the subscriber's e-mail address, remember - and only send e-mail to folks who complete that form.

There are no exceptions to this rule, except one: If you have an existing customer list, and want to sign them up for the list, send them a polite e-mail inviting them to subscribe. Do not sign them up and ask them to unsubscribe! That's like eating the last piece of cake and then asking if anyone wants it - just plain rude, and far too late.

An opt-in only list will start smaller, it's true. But small a small list is a targeted one. Our pure opt-in lists see close to 40% 'click thru' rates. Non opt-in lists can't claim anything close to those numbers.

And don't forget: Bandwidth isn't free, either. If you send out 1,000,000 messages, then you're footing the bill, one way or another, for all of those bits and bytes flying across the Internet. An opt-in list reaches a highly targeted audience and uses fewer messages to do it, so you save money.

Keep it Small

Your e-mail message should be no larger than 15 kilobytes: The total file size for all images and text should never be larger than this number. Anything larger will bog down computers with slow Internet connections and may be targeted and deleted as spam.

Remember that all your e-mail has to do is get the reader to click thru to your web site. You don't have to show your product in an extra large photo, or provide 10 paragraphs explaining your service. Save that for your site. Keep the message compact, and don't use more than one or two images in your message. The result will be a small, fast-loading e-mail message.

Keep it Simple

Try to design an e-mail message that looks good in a standard Microsoft Outlook or Eudora preview pane. At a minimum, someone viewing your message in a small window should see your logo, and the basic message.

Stay away from fancy technologies in your e-mail - restrict it to HTML and images, or plain text. Macromedia Flash and various other streaming technologies seem like a great e-mail gadget, but they're a disaster - they lead to bloated messages and a whole array of compatibility issues. Don't drive your audience crazy - keep the streaming stuff on your web site, and out of the e-mail.

Avoid the One Image Gag

Even an HTML e-mail must include some text. Don't send an e-mail that's just one big image. Most spam filters now check for e-mails that contain images and no text, and automatically assign them to the junk heap.

Be Honest

Your e-mail subject line should clearly describe the content of the message. And the e-mail's 'reply to' address should be an address that goes to a human being.

Finally, make sure there is a clear 'unsubscribe' link in your message.

Several states now have strict anti-spam regulations, and most define 'spam' as having a deceptive subject line, hiding the unsubscribe information, and/or including deceptive reply to or other e-mail addresses. If you send out messages that fit this definition, you can be fined a dollar amount per message sent . Save yourself a lot of money, and a lot of bad publicity: Be honest.

Follow Your Instincts

Lastly, follow your gut. Would the e-mail you're about to send annoy you? If so, reconsider.

If you don't follow these rules, you may fit the legal spam definition in states like Washington, and face lawsuits. Save yourself money and a lot of bad publicity: Be honest.

Use Stuff You Know

Above all, keep your campaign organic. Grow it using stuff you know: An opt-in only list, clear, concise content and an honest strategy.

About the Author

Ian Lurie is an Internet marketer in Seattle, WA. He started his web design and marketing firm, Portent Interactive, in 1995. Portent offers complete Internet marketing support, including search engine optimization, e-mail marketing, and web site design and development. Recent projects include SEO and production for www.princesslodges.com, SEO, marketing strategy, design and production for www.dessy.com, and, on the more whimsical side, frida.filmateria.com. Ian has a law degree from UCLA and has successfully avoided practicing law for almost ten years.