Three tips for better email marketing results

Turning long email lists into genuine sales leads is the core challenge for any email marketer. Here are a few perennial tips to help you maximise results.

image credits to: Stuart Miles - FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Verify submissions

If your list is full of mistyped and fake email addresses, your provider will notice your high proportion of bounce-backs. A bounce rate of more than 10% is not that improbable and can cause genuine, active addresses to start bouncing too. Too many mail-outs like this wreck your domain's reputation, and you can find your service curtailed or even your IP blacklisted. Including a code in the subscribe box of your website or blog to verify individual emails on submission means you won't lose a potential customer unnecessarily and you'll catch those duds before they ruin your list.

Clean your lists

Run a monthly batch email verification using a service like Atomic Mail Verifier or Brite Verify to clear out anything that's stopped working and keep your lists clean and sweet smelling. The reputation of your email domain will stay pristine, and as an added bonus, you'll finally have a more realistic idea of how many useful contacts you actually have.

Don't be tempted to spam

From forum posts to social media posts, to work and personal emails about all sorts of subjects, new emails present themselves all the time. Don't fall into the trap of adding any old email address to what's supposed to be a list of interested subscribers. Not only will people who are not interested in your product or service not become customers because you sent them an email implying you thought they were, they may actively damage your reputation by labelling you as a spammer online. There's not really an upside, so don't do it.

Cast your net wider

So how do you grow that email list? Networking with similar or related businesses may turn up opportunities to run a subscription widget or sign-up box on someone else's site for a limited time - they'll expect you to do the same for them, of course. It's a trick that works well for businesses in the same industry who aren't competing with the same product or service.