Email resolutions

It’s a safe bet that we’ve all made New Year’s resolutions at some point in our lives.  With this newsletter, I Send Your Email has decided to apply the idea of pledging to do something "the right way" to email marketing.  Below are a few things you should resolve to do to make the most of your email marketing program in 2009.  Also, with a new year, a new budget often isn’t far behind.  Also included some articles to help make the case for email marketing when it comes time to allocating your marketing dollars.

With my email, I resolve to….

Make the Open-or-Delete Decision Easy: Use a subject line that tells (not sells) what’s inside the message.  Write a concise subject message with the value proposition in the first line of text in your message).

Make Your Message Easy to Share: Include functionality that lets recipients post your e-mail on their social networks.  Be sure to include your subscription information to take advantage of this expanded audience.

Leverage What You Know: Develop more targeted, relevant offers and messaging by making the most of what you know about your customers, such as their demographics and/or past buying behavior.

I could go on with a much longer list of things to think about before sending your email, but Seth Godin has already done a fantastic job developing such a list. Since I see no point in reinventing the wheel, I’ll link to his excellent checklist of things to think of before hitting the send button. 

Recession-Proof Marketing
Many experts agree that email marketing is one of the best options when allocating marketing dollars in a tough economy.  Here are two articles that support that claim.  You may want to consider sharing them with the decision makers in your life to keep email in the mix in 2009.

Ride out the recession with e-mail 
John Rizzi points out in DM News “e-mail’s ability to help you protect your most valuable asset in a down economy: loyal customers.”  He also points out “e-mail marketing offers more cost-effective opportunities to surprise and delight your customers, while at the same time generating a quick sale or two.”

Tips for protecting your email marketing budget 
Spencer Kollas shares that “the Direct Marketing Association estimates that email will bring in $45.65 for every dollar spent in 2008.”  That could be music to your boss’s ears! Once you get approval to spend on email marketing, Kollas points out ways to spend your budget wisely.