If done right bulk email can be an important tool in your marketing arsenal. And if done wrong, beware the wrath of a customer spammed!
There are several ways of classifying bulk email:
- Opt In or unsolicited
- Rich text/html or plain text
- Promotional or educational
- Proactive or responsive
Bulk email can have various objectives. You may be sending it out to announce a new product or a promotion (get more sales) increase traffic to your website or online business, or you maybe sending out relationship building emails that entertain, educate, thank and “keep in touch” with the potential or current customer.
The success of your bulk email campaign depends on several factors:
The quality of your list can make the difference between success and disaster. Whether you have taken the harder path of building the list yourself or you have rented a list from a primary list provider, the success of your email campaign will depend on how well people on the list fit your target customer profile, and if the list is updated and tested. You may be tempted to try unsolicited bulk email because it is so much cheaper and some situations might even warrant it but you will realize in the long run it is the “opt-in” email that is more cost effective and brings you higher ROI.
The second ingredient in the bulk email campaign recipe is the distribution and control system of your bulk email campaigns. It is highly recommended that you use a professional bulk email management company and designate an internal coordinator to manage it. It may seem like a simple task since you have an ace list and you think all you need to do is shoot out an email version of your direct mail piece to 20,000 customers…that can’t be hard. Well, you couldn’t be more wrong. If you don’t want your emails getting lost in cyber space or worse, your company getting black-listed for spam oran even dire scenario where thousands of irate customers “opt out”,then do yourself a favor and hire the pros.
Next factor is the content and format of the emails: The recommended method is both rich text or html and plain text versions of the same email. That being said it is what you say that is more important than how you say it. Get a professional copywriter with experience in direct marketing and writing for the web. From the subject line to the body and call to action, every word and image in the email campaign will literally spell out the success or failure of your campaign.
Last but not the least is another crucial factor that will determine if your email is opened and read – the timing of when you actually send them out. Consider all the factors on your end but most importantly look at research on consumer behavior and buying patterns to decide if Friday, Monday or mid week will be a better time for your target audience. If you have a big list you should break it up based on segmentation and send out the bursts at different times of the week and month.
After all of this is done and you think you have a killer mass email campaign, test it. And the repeat the whole process based on results.
Bulk email is an effective marketing tool and should take proper planning and resources before you roll it out. It should be considered part of your marketing campaign and planned in conjunction with other tactics as a integrated campaign for maximum effectiveness.
- Cherryone
