Despite the influx of social media and other marketing channels, email continues to be the foundation, the rock, the heart and soul of online marketing in 2010. It is the killer app of all solid online marketing strategies and a proven performer that has weathered the storm and the scrutiny for well over ten years.

But email marketing is both a standout and a risk for marketers and there are right and wrong ways to approach email marketing campaigns.  Through email, Internet service providers and marketers have tested, measured and learned through trial and error what works and what doesn’t, ultimately creating best practices and laws that govern email marketing today.

The key to online marketing success is creating relevance for the recipient or viewer. In the case of email marketing, that means getting explicit permission from the email recipients before sending them email marketing messages, and personalizing the offers as much as possible.

Spreading the News

Email Newsletters are sent on a consistent basis to subscribed customers interested in timely information about your business.  One-off email campaigns are also useful but are generally built around one time offers or targeted email as part of a larger marketing campaign effort.

Mass email sent to your customers should be treated the same as if you are sending one email to one customer.  Mass email marketing campaigns should ideally drive traffic to your website to create more business opportunities and therefore make you or your company more money.

Email deliverability isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s a must have

In the late 90s and the early part of the 21st century, email messages were deployed with little to no concern about whether they were actually delivered.  In its relative infancy email marketing was more about getting the message out the door than it was about worrying if the email made it to the desired recipients.

Email deliverability is one of the most important aspects of email marketing. Not only do we now know that email messages cannot be acted upon if they aren’t delivered and read, but we also know that a company’s online reputation is the foremost reason why email messages are delivered or not.  And, perhaps more importantly, a company’s online reputation is heavily weighted by how email subscribers do or do not interact with its email messages.

Measure the results, not just the indicators

The primary objective in most businesses is generating qualified sales leads.  The ability to measure the number of opened email messages and clicks shows an automatic conversion. For several years, many marketing professionals still used those same metrics to determine the success or failure of their email marketing campaigns.

But time and technology have shown us that open and click-through rates, while valuable, are really just indicators. They highlight important information such as whether an email subject line or offer was appealing, and if a list is growing stale.

But what they do not tell us, in most cases, is if an email marketing campaign generated results against a defined objective.

Smaller marketing budget = more email reliance

Email customer acquisition is generally the top priority when companies come to us asking for help with email marketing.  Acquisition should always be part of the mix but more balance between acquisition and retention is now a requirement given today’s real-time social Web.  Being mindful of this balance can enable very powerful word-of-mouth, and loyalty results in a return on your investment.

Email ROI is measured not in opens and clicks but in conversions.  You can look at a list of customers who opened your email and clicked on a link, but then what?  What does that tell you?  Analysis of this behavior can mean the difference between a bounce and a sale.   Finding the answers to these questions can make dynamic content and personalization possible for future emails.  That means retention of email customers, repeat business and ROI.

Email marketing campaigns can get the word out about your product, service or business while collecting valuable information about your customer base and what parts of your message aren’t working.  But you really shouldn’t stop there.  In order to get a return on your investment of time, effort and money, the information gleaned from the email campaign needs to be analyzed and put to good use.

Otherwise you’re really just sending out SPAM.

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