Email Marketing

Get people to opt in to your email marketing

Don't send junk mail. Remember you shouldn't send sales or marketing emails to anyone without their permission or unless you have an existing business relationship with them.

Junk email or spam irritates many people who dislike an inbox full of messages they didn't request. Sending email indiscriminately will create a bad impression of your business. There are also legal issues covering commercial emails, requested or not.

However, it can be a very effective marketing tool if you can get customers and potential customers to request updates from you by email - known as "opting in".

Using incentives

People are more likely to opt in if you give them a useful incentive. For example, you can offer special services or discounts to customers who sign up for your email updates. It's even more effective when you make offers available exclusively through your email marketing. You can then be more confident that recipients will check for the latest email.

Building your email list

If you're running an email marketing campaign, keep it in mind when creating your other marketing material. It's well worth putting opt-in tickboxes for email information on all your paper-based marketing material.

You can use your website as a powerful way of getting opt-ins too - it's always worth highlighting the benefits of subscribing to your email service and providing an online form to register immediately.

Don't ask for too much information at the registration stage - lots of boxes to fill in will discourage people. Name, email address and phone number should be enough to start with.