The thought of contacting thousands of potential customers from one easy-to-write email is very appealing. It costs almost nothing and you can get your message out almost immediately. You can create awareness quickly and if you build a strong message you may find better responses than from traditional mail. It enables you to build newsworthy and up-to-the-minute offers and to keep in touch with regular customers, But it needs to be done effectively or it will simply be treated as spam.  

When not to use email marketing

Think about your customers. Are they in a trade or user base that does not use a computer? If so, there is little point in creating an email offer. Badly done, email marketing can damage your reputation, so it should not be used unless properly planned and targeted at the right audience.  

Email lists

The best email list you can get is one that you have built up over time in your own business, with supporting data about the purchases a client has made and an agreement from the client to receive email offers.  

If you choose to purchase email lists -  

DO

• Validate the company selling the data and make sure they are reputable. What other clients do they have and what response rate did they get? Follow up any references to make sure they are real. If in doubt choose another supplier - after all it is your reputation at risk here.
• Make sure any list broker you work with guarantees that the email address owners have confirmed they wish to receive emails.

DON'T

• Buy CDs etc. with millions of names and email addresses on them. These have been created using automated software (mostly spam) and their use is illegal (see below).

You can search registered reputable email list providers on the Direct Marketing Association website

Email list management

List management can be difficult and is fraught with potential pitfalls. If you are intending to send out email marketing on a regular basis then, unless you are a big enough organization to employ in-house experts, it is a good idea to invest in some list management software that is designed to help you manage the names and addresses of recipients. Another solution is to use a hosted service, which will cost up to about £200 per month, but the provider will be responsible for managing your email traffic.

Email response tracking

Knowing how successful your emails have been is critical. There are a couple of techniques you can use to measure the response rate.

• If you embed a link to a specific web page, created for the promotion, you can see how many people click through to the page.
• Email campaign software solutions have email response tracking built in.

Complying with UK Law

• When you send a marketing email the recipient must have agreed to receive the message or you must already have their email address legitimately because they are an existing customer.
• You must make it clear who is sending the message by including your email address and
• You must also provide a current address for the recipient to use if they wish to contact you to withdraw their consent for mailings. If they do withdraw their consent, it is illegal to email them again.