You’ve set up your email marketing campaign. You hope you have content that your customers and prospects find interesting and relevant. How do you make sure you are engaging your customers?

The impact of your email marketing depends on several things:

1. Use an email provider. You can use the reports to track your effectiveness. (Don’t try to do an email campaign on your own.) Good providers that I have used include Constant Contact, icontact, and AWeber.

2. Get demographic information. When people sign up, get more than just their email address. Ask them for information to segment your list. Some things you might want are age range, occupation, sex, area of the country, etc.

3. Pay attention to bounces. In order for someone to open an email, it has to be delivered.

4. Look at opt-out rates. These should be very low – around 1-2% or less. If they are higher, your emails don’t reflect the interests of your list.

5. Track open rates. Are they up or down from a previous period? “According to the ‘Q1 2009 Email Trends and Benchmarks’ report by Epsilon, . . . 22.1% of e-mails were opened and 6.1% were clicked through” (emarketer daily 7/27/09). A good rate for your industry might be higher or lower than this. You won’t know your own rate if you don’t keep track.

6. Watch links. Make sure you have links that people can click on to get more information in each email. This helps you know people are actually reading the content and find it interesting. It can also help focus future messages.

7. Observe forwards. People who forward emails, not only read your email, they thought it was so good they sent it to a friend. If you have one particular email that was forwarded a lot, discover why.

8. Focus on trends. Every quarter or so combine the click throughs and forwards with your customer demographics. If you find trends, try segmenting your list to appeal to just those individuals.

9. Ask. About 4-6 months after someone signs up for your newsletter, send them a survey to see what they like, what they don’t, and what else you should cover. (It’s also a good idea to send a survey to someone who hasn’t opened 3-4 emails in a row.)

10. Keep trying. Email marketing campaigns get better as you get better. If you love what you have – either your service or your product – your enthusiasm will catch on. For help on actually writing your emails, see my Ten Tips for Newsletters.

Is email marketing worth the effort?

According to a survey by Forbes, email marketing is the second best method of online advertising. See the graph below for more details:

Although SEO optimization is the best method for generating conversions, email and e-newsletters were more effective than pay-per-click for these conversions! That is huge.

Email and e-newsletters continue to play an important part in branding as well. E-newsletters, and ads sent by e-mail, are part of an overall advertising strategy. The right kind of advertising helps customers feel secure in buying from you.

Even though I write newsletters for clients, I hadn’t realized until this survey came out how effective they are. I hope this motivates you to start sending newsletters. They are a fun way to connect with your customers on a regular basis. 

Summer is a time when things slow down at my house. School is out and kids sleep late. It’s a time when I can catch up on my reading. I especially like reading magazines and newsletters. They are a great way to keep up on the fast pace of today’s world.

Newsletters are also an effective way to keep up to date with your customers.

Here are some tips to make your newsletters more effective:

1. Be newsy. A newsletter is not an ad. If you have an upcoming sale, it’s all right to mention it briefly at the end. Send ads separately from newsletters. Newsletters should be about 75 percent content and only 25 percent advertising.

2. Be real. Many newsletters state facts, but don’t connect the dots to explain what the facts mean. Your audience doesn’t want to be talked down to, but they might not be up on the latest jargon in your industry either. Tie any facts into relevant examples that apply to your customers.

3. Be interesting. Write your articles in a consolidated way so that you don’t ramble and lose your audience. A shot of humor is a nice touch, as well. Another tactic is to get a dialog going by offering an opinion and asking your customers for their views.

4. Be interested. Write about the questions your customers frequently ask you. Offer your customers a feedback link so they can tell you what they think. Also ask for their opinions about topics they would like to see in future issues.

5. Be helpful. Write topics that are helpful to your customers and their interests. Put in a tip or hint to make their lives easier.

6. Be brief. A newsletter should be short and take no longer than about 5 minutes to read. People are busy and they will look forward to your newsletters if they are concise.

7. Be relevant. Use an anecdote or highlight a customer’s experience (think customer success stories). People like to talk about themselves and will usually easily share their ideas. Also, when your customers see others in your newsletters, they may contact you to be included as well.

8. Be valuable. If you have a topic that can’t be covered in a short segment, link to a longer article on your website. Or link to other authors’ articles for more information on relevant topics. (Get permission from the authors first of course.)

9. Be professional. Only send newsletters to people who sign up for them. Don’t spam. Provide a way for your customers to opt out of your newsletters.

10. Be consistent. Send your newsletters regularly, but not too often. Bi-weekly or monthly are usually good newsletter intervals.