Three emails I would really like to send:
Dear Dethroned or Exiled Monarchy,
I would be happy to help you with your banking needs. When can I expect the check? Would it be okay if I used your money to float my business until my ship comes in? Since we are on a first-name basis, and you are so gracious to give me this opportunity, I feel it only fair to tell you that every now and then I have to close out my checking account and open a new one because, well, quite frankly, I am not much on bookkeeping and the ladies at the bank get tired of trying to balance my accounts. Hope this is okay. Your BF forever!
Dear Well-Meaning Friends and Associates,
Thanks so much for forwarding me all of the emails that you receive. I just don't get enough of my own. Thanks for thinking of me, again, and again, and again.
Dear Realtors,
Thanks for the 12,739 flyers you email me every day telling me about all of the properties that I can find on my own in the MLS. Hope you don't mind, but I am returning them to you as I know you have spent good money on them and I hate for them to go to waste. I am sure you can reuse them for someone else, sort of like re-gifting, only with email. Think of it as e-gifting.
The email has become both a blessing and a curse. While email marketing is cheap and allows you to blast your message for mere pennies, email marketing is losing its effectiveness as more and more consumers are fed up with unwanted messages and opt out or block marketers from sending them any further content.
Frankly, I think that we are our own undoing. We have used email as an all you can eat buffet without considering the consequences. We have overloaded, over-reached and over used the in-boxes of not only potential customers, but also the in boxes of consumers who find our content irrelevant and unwanted. So they are using gate keepers to keep us out, hitting the delete key, and sending our fabulous offers to never-never land.
If you've run an email campaign, it's likely you've checked the statistics to see what percentage of bounces, opens, forwards, clicks, unsubscribes, and ignored your campaign. An important part of an email campaign is not only getting it past the gate but getting it opened. Here's a few tips to make certain that your emails are welcome and your email campaign a success:
BEST PRACTICES FOR SUCCESS
- Use Opt-In
- Single Opt-In
- Notified Opt-In
- Confirmed Opt-In
2. Clarify and Disclose at Sign Up (Web or Registration Sheet)
- Content You will be Sending
- Frequency of Contact
- From Whom (Email Address)
3. Only send the content you disclosed
4. Stick to your promised frequency
5. DO NOT SHARE YOUR LIST unless you have signed permission
6. Ask subscribers to add your email address to their contact list
7. Use a SPAM checker before sending your email out
8. Avoid Trigger Words (Next Blog) BIG BOLD TYPE and CAPS
9. Use the same "From" email address and user name
10. Make sure your ESP (Email Service provider) is "WHITELISTED"
11. Keep your list updated. With free mailboxes at Yahoo, gmail, AOL, etc. people are creating mail boxes just for the purpose of giving out to people like you and I, while family and close friends get another.
In the next post we'll discuss market segmentation, personalization and targeting.
Happy Marketting!
Funny and very, very informative! I really like the suggestion of setting the proper expectations up front.
Thanks, Mark. I'm British and at times my humour is a bit dry. Clearly you are an extremely bright and insightful guy.
Happy emailing, Mark. Remember, friends don't send friends canned SPAM. (Hey, it's midnight here! Cut me some slack!)
Deborah,
FINALLY!!! I've read so many posts here on ActiveRain extolling the virtues of all things free or close to free in terms of advertising.
"I send email blasts to 5,000 other agents telling them all about my latest listing...and it only costs $19.95/mo. I've stopped wasting my money on print advertising. It doesn't work."
Uh huh....take a look at the points Deborah brings up...especially the part about stats. Log into your email blast account....and you'll find that 2,216 of those emails bounced (email addresses weren't valid or a spam filter kicked the email back)...1,037 were deleted without being opened, 421 were unsubscribed and 8 were opened. The other 1,318 will never show up in your stats because they were sent to valid email addresses...that are never checked by the owner of the email address (i.e. fred @ hotmail .com). Fred has had that email address for 9 years...but hasn't checked it for 8-1/2. So your email will sit in that person's inbox forever without being deleted...or read...or unsubscribed to. If you're like most...you'll see those remaining 1,318....and keep your fingers crossed that THOSE will be the ones to call!!! (It won't happen....don't wait....it's a waste of time.)
In addition, Yahoo (Verizon)....AOL...and many others have implemented the most outrageous spam filters in the business. NOTHING will make it through (well...almost nothing.) If you have one of those addresses....(especially Yahoo)...you MUST GET RID OF IT IMMEDIATELY!!!
We have tons of customers who have Yahoo email accounts. After the first of the year, they stopped receiving our emails. In trying to figure out what the problem was...we learned that Yahoo has implemented a new anti-spam filtering system that essentially rejects 75% of incoming mail. You may thing that's great. After all, who needs more junk mail?? But what if it's NOT junk?? What if it's from a buyer inquiring about a property from your website?
Yahoo's answer to us was "Have your customer add you to their safe sender list". No problem, I'll do that. And while I'm at it...I'll tell my real estate customers to add all of their buyer and seller inquiries to their safe senders list too.
Oh...oops. They don't know who the buyers and sellers are yet (and, thanks to your spam filter... never will).
Great post Deborah!
P.S. If you use a "signature" in your outgoing email (logo, photo, etc.) be very careful. Anything other than a plain old text email may have a tough time making it through to your intended recipient. Your email is now looked at as an html email....which COULD contain viruses, spyware, or other nuisances which can easily be tucked into the html code. Many of the new spam filters are killing those before they even get past the front gate!
David, thanks for sharing your results and for the tip about the signature. You really know your stuff!
I think we all need to revisit our email strategies and put more effort into our campaigns.
Deborah
Damn I thought my photo made my email more personable.