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How E-Mail Marketing Works

E-mail Marketing is an easy, affordable, and effective way to market to a specific audience. It saves a company time by enabling them to send out thousands of e-mails in minutes. No stamps, no printing, and no mail service make it an attractive decision monetarily. The recipients receive the information in minutes instead of weeks.  Most people will open the e-mail within 48 hours. Using e-mail services the distribution can be tracked effortlessly. You will know what’s been sent, returned, opened, clicked through and if someone has unsubscribed instantly.
The most effective campaigns will have a highly targeted list and will be permission based:  they want it, expect it, and welcome your e-mail! The following will answer many common questions about e-mail marketing. 
•    What is “opt in” or “permission-based” e-mail marketing?
•    Is e-mail marketing effective as a Marketing Tool?
•    Should I buy an e-mail list?
•    What kind of list should I look for?
•    How can I insure the list is legitimate?
•    What is spamming?
•    What are the consequences of spamming?
•    How do I avoid spamming?
What is “opt in” or “permission-based” e-mail marketing? Opt in and permission-based mean essentially the same thing. You’re marketing to people who have given you permission to send them something specific. The only way someone gets on one of these lists is if that person specifically requests to be added. As an example, you have their permission to send them a newsletter, free information, promotions, or whatever is understood at the time they sign up… The “opt in” must be adhered to.  You can’t say your going to send them a current copy of your newsletter and then continue to send them newsletters every month after that. In this case they would have to specifically request receiving them monthly. The usual technique is to provide a form for the person to sign up on a website.  Otherwise someone can give you permission through conversation, e-mail, or product sales.

Is e-mail marketing effective as a Marketing Tool?
Absolutely!  Building an Opt In e-mail list is one of the most important things to do if you are going to be successful in the long run. It may take some time to collect them, but in the end the result is an audience that gains your trust and generates ongoing income.
It helps you target products and services to specific groups of people. Using newsletters, ezines, etc. you can promote and sell to the market that is interested in what you have to offer. Note:  It’s not as productive to send a generic newsletter that talks about everything under the sun.  It wastes the recipient’s time and your resources. Developing specific categories and focusing the information you are providing is key to having an effective e-mail marketing campaign.

Should I buy an e-mail list?
It’s better to build your own list…  if you do decide to buy a list, make real sure that it is a legitimate vendor.  Many lists you will find are garbage. They can be outdated, not permission based, or passed on from other none legitimate sources… 

What kind of e-mail list should I look for?
You want to make sure it’s an Opt In or Permission Based List.  Be very careful, you don’t want to be accused of spamming. Even if a person on the list opted in sometime in the past, they may have forgotten, they obviously don’t know who you are and why they are receiving something from you, or they have been so overwhelmed with e-mails that you are the last straw and become the target… If someone promises to blast 5 million e-mails out for you, get ready for a large percentage of those to bounce back into your inbox. The bigger the promise the more careful you should become.

How can I insure the list is legitimate?
Research the company: 
1.    Address, E-Mail and Phone Number:  Try calling them.  If they provide an address and phone number, it’s a good sign… of course the address could be fake. Or at the very least e-mail them and see what kind of response you get.  Ask them a few questions about where the list comes from.
2.    An important thing for me when I bump into something that I’m not sure about online, is to read their “About Page”.  If they don’t have one, run! A legit business should be proud to tell you some history…
3.    Check the Better Business Bureau. 
4.    Go to Google Groups, punch in their name and see if anyone’s talking about them.
Do some searches on Google.com, Yahoo.com, Bing.com, Ask.com, Aol.com or others...  my favorite search is “company name” scam. 
5.    And make sure what their guarantee is.  A 100% satisfaction guarantee backed up by a well known eCommerce Solution like PayPal.com is one of the the best case scenario. This can be applied to any marketing solution.
Case to Consider:  I good friend of mine recently spent some good money on a list.  At the end of the sale he was given the ability to resell that list. He never did.  Shortly after the download his computer received a very nasty virus that crashed his whole system (luckily he had me to reformat his hard drive for him…). 
Resell rights:  A good indication that the list itself is worthless.  It’s old and only used to resell to the next… kind of like a mini pyramid scheme.  Recruit people to sell without any thought about the quality of the product…

What is spamming or UCE?
Spamming or UCE (Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail) is simply sending e-mails to people without their permission.  It is a terrible practice that just hurts the legitimate business. Most often they are blasted out to bulk mailing lists.  Obviously they work, otherwise it wouldn’t be done, but it is just plain stupid, insensitive and ruthless… they don’t care about you, just the mighty dollar.

What are the consequences of spamming?
If you are discovered to be spamming, many terrible things can happen!  First, and the least damaging, you could lose credibility and develop a bad reputation with an ISP or Web Hosting Service. This could result in you essentially being shut down. If your case is bad enough, expect legal action, fines or even imprisonment for up to 5 years!

How do I avoid spamming?
  Here are some quick requirements to keep in mind:
1.    Always have an “unsubscribe” or “opt out” link and/or instructions:  the recipient must be given the opportunity to stop receiving your e-mails in every e-mail.
2.    If they do unsubscribe you have 10 days to complete the request.
3.    There must me a legitimate “From” address, domain name, and IP Address.
4.    The subject line must be relevant and accurate.
5.    And one more important thing you must do is Include your Physical Address.
E-mail marketing can be powerful if approached with the methods recommended above. This is a business.  Just like any business on or offline the key to long term success is to build a long term relationship, take care of people, respect their time, and provide them with service that they require, need, or ask for.

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