Make your subject in the 'SUBJECT'
line engaging - avoid spam words
You subject line is a key factor in encouraging people to read your email,
so make sure that you spend some time getting it just right for each
email. Try to sum up the main story or feature of the email, and if
you can includethe name of your newsletter as the first words, so that
regular subscribers immediately know it's your newsletter.
Make sure that your subject is relevant and not misleading, try and
avoid unnecessary capitalisation, exclamation marks, and the word FREE
- all these things will increase the proportion of your mails discarded
as spam.
Keep your communications regular
Send out your informtion/offers on a regular basis - monthly usually works best,
but depending on your sector and audience then weekly or even daily
may be appropriate - but keep it consistent. Subscribers often come
to anticipate your next newsletter, which is invaluable for you, but
make sure you don't let them down!
Spelling
Spell check your emails, there's nothing worse than reading emails full of spelling mistakes and typo's.
Involve your audience
Keep your audience interested by getting them involved
- run competitions, surveys and Q&A sessions - anything that will
get your audience engaged with your brand.
Provide value
Make sure that your emails contain add genuine value
to your readers - don't always go for the hard sell or you'll rapidly
lose many of your subscribers. If you can get your readers anticipating
your emails because they value your insight then you're already well
on your way to creating lasting customer relationships.
Use Images
If your readers can receive HTML format emails then be sure to use relevant,
colourful images to bring your message alive - but keep the file size
small. Also keep the format or your email consistent with your brand
- remember that you can create a template to match your website and
other branding, and re-use this as often as you like.
Learn from your mistakes!
You can get valuable statistics from every message you send. Be sure
to analyze your open and clickthrough rates after every mailout. The
open rates allow you to see how effective your subject line was, and
clickthrough rates can indicate how successful each article within
your newsletter was (if you have a link from each article to a web
page). Use this data to learn what works and what doesn't, and make
every issue you send even better. If you've got time you can even test
different versions of each newsletter on different small groups of
users, and then send out the most successful version to your entire
list.
Get Personal
Addressing your recipient by name is a good start,
but how about producing several versions of your newsletter for groups
of your subscribers with differing interests, so that you can make your
newsletter far more relevant to each group. This could be as simple as
changing the order that you place your articles in, or as involved as
an entirely different newsletter - you'll be amazed at the difference
that targeting your messages can make.
Get Legal
The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 came into force in the UK on 11th December 2003.
This legislation affects anyone using email or sms marketing; there are several key points which you must observe in order to avoid being liable for a hefty fine.
A simple overview:
- If you have had no prior commercial relationship with a person you will have to obtain their permission to communicate with them by email or SMS text message. "Individual subscribers" do not include companies or individuals within companies.
- You cannot obtain this consent via sending an email or SMS message to ask for it, and the permission has to be actively and knowledgeably given - i.e. the user must tick a box or actively opt-in by performing a specific action.
- If you have had a previous trading relationship you may be able to communicate with them about a similar product or service. It's that little word similar that gets the lawyers salivating. Because English law is largely determined by case law and precedent it will be some time before the definition of similar is determined, very expensively, in court.
- Under e-commerce regulations, marketing emails must include certain information about your business, including its full name, contact details and a clear indication of prices if you refer to them.
- You must provide a valid reply address.
- You must make it easy for recipients to unsubscribe from future communications.
- E-commerce regulations require you to make all commercial email clearly identifiable as such, either in the header or the text of the email.
Penalties
Those who fail to follow these regulations face prosecution and could be fined up to £5,000 in a Magistrates Court or an unlimited fine if the prosecution is pursued in the Crown Court.
Summary
Katoo has been designed from the outset to ensure anyone using the system conforms to these basic requirements.
The new law, in seeking to control the flood of unsolicited messages, should help increase the effectiveness of the communications sent through the Katoo system.
It will act as a badge of confidence that will assure individuals that their data is being respected and handled in conformance to all relevant legislation.
Useful Links
The Information Commissioner
Responsible for enforcing the electronic communications regulations in the UK.
The EC Directive (PDF)
The full text of the directive. |
