Does email marketing strengthen or damage your reputation?

Email marketing is inexpensive, immediate, measurable and very easy! Are you tempted to take a plunge into email marketing?
Hold on! There are a few things which you should probably know before you decide to invade your customers’ inbox.

Good v/s bad

So, what is good and bad about email marketing?Well, the good is that it is a smart way to drive traffic to your company website and alongside, customers to your business. And, the bad is that it is also one of the most battered marketing practices followed by many small and large business organizations today.

While good email marketing still thrives in the market, bad ones leave companies tainted with manyirritated readers and customers. Unless you know the trick of the game, it is tough to apply it successfully to boost your business.

Think about your own inbox. How many times do you keenly open unsought emails that you receive from random brands? Of the trifling fraction of emails opened, how many do you thoroughly go through? And of this, how many links do you click on? And finally, do you fall for their offers, discounts or products? The bitter fact is that a vast majority of such emails never even get past the subject line!

So then, how does it work?

It all depends on what definition you give to email marketing. If yours is a newsletter with relevant, interesting content that your customers are looking forward to, then it definitely should work. It must also help your clients know you, your products and services.

Email promotions are intended to produce instant action – sales, downloads, inquiries, registrations, review and analysis. Informative newsletters direct customers to stores and pave the way for building brand awareness, strengthening relationships, reassuring trust and loyalty.

However, email marketing is just like preserving a garden, which only bears flowers if managed properly. We know it can work, but only if you get the basics right. The basics include collecting a list of people who want to hear from you, crafting the right message and finally ensuring the emails get through to those on that list.

When does it go wrong?

Most of the times, you are badly hit when you buy email lists to publicize your business. That lands you in the spammers bin and you lose your credibility. Also, if you continue to bombardyour customers with too much information way too often, it happens that they are not anymoreinterested. So, it becomes important to survey what your customers need and check the frequency of emails sent to them.

What is the bottom line?

Your ideal clients are people like you. If you consider them as you would like to be considered, your marketing attempts would succeed. Respect your customers’ time and make sure that you don’t get too strident with them. Remember, the unsubscribe button is just at their fingertips!