No doubt about it; email is one of the most popular methods for marketing among small and medium-sized businesses, bolstered largely by the fact that nearly all businesses use email – 99 percent, according to the results of a survey conducted by Experian Marketing.
Email marketing also has the appeal of convenience – one click, and your message can be delivered right to the customer’s inbox; what could be better? Unfortunately, studies also show that many of the emails that wind up in people’s inboxes also wind up being deleted – often without even being opened. In order to reduce the chances of your emails encountering the same fate, you need to take a few precautions to make sure your messages are being delivered at the most opportune times and in the way that’s most appealing to the customer.
HTML vs text
Few companies let customers choose whether they want to receive HTML or text-based emails. HTML versions can load more slowly on some machines (depending on the features you include, sometimes very slowly), providing just enough time for a customer to click on that little trashcan icon that spells doom for your marketing message.
How often?
While there’s no real “right” answer for this question, one thing holds true: Too many emails don’t win fans. According to the same Experian study, only about a third of companies bother to ask their customers how often they want to be emailed. While more may seem better to you (after all, who wouldn’t want to be bombarded with information about your wonderful product or service?), a constant stream of emails can be all that’s needed for a potential customer to unsubscribe.
Marketer, heal thyself
OK, poor paraphrasing, but the gist is that you may be able to use your own analytics to determine a good time to send emails. The time of the month as well as time of day when your site gets the most traffic might be a good time to send off your emails. Also pay attention to the times of month and day your emails generate the most responses as well as the most unsubscribes.
In a world where mobile marketing seems to be the predominant driving force, email marketing still can be highly profitable. Like anything else, you need to develop a deep understanding to get the most advantages.
