Last week, I wrote about top mistakes small business email marketers make when they utilize email marketing in their business. Today, I want to drive the importance of sending relevant, targeted and personalized email broadcasts to people. If you’re not doing Email Marketing 2.0, you are harming your business … I’ll explain why.
In the era of traditional email marketing, marketers played the game easily: grow a list, send email and make money. The fatal flaw in this old-school game is it rewards bad behavior and poor practices in marketing. CEO and co-founder of Infusionsoft, Clate Mask, recently shared his thoughts on the practice of sending email in a short video blog aptly titled Send a Blast Next Tuesday – you really should watch it.
Email marketing has evolved. Consider the tools consumers have to manage their email experience. Consider the ISPs and the technology to foil even the wittiest spammers. Consider the wide interpretation of “spam” people have in their heads.
Email marketing 1.0 is risky at best. Why?
- Numbing effect on subscribers – Once you get them used to ignoring you, they will ignore you even when they’re prime for the right message.
- Untold story in open rate measurements – If you frequently send to your entire list and only a small fraction open it, it’s hard to see the impact on the relevance from one message to the next.
- Increases list attrition – As people abandon their attention for your list, they will unsubscribe and leave and you’ve lost them forever. Not to mention, you lost brownie points with them if you want them back.
You can avoid these risks if you adapt to the principles of email marketing 2.0 such as permission. (For more on the difference between email marketing 1.0 vs 2.0, check out this previous post.) Simply put, the ability to send segmented, relevant and timely follow-up is what it’s all about. How do you do that? You send to smaller segments of your list – sending them the right message at the right time.
Email marketing 1.0 hurts your business. Old-school techniques don’t last in a new-world order of consumerism. Treat every email sent like it’s your first (and) last impression with the recipient and give them a reason to look forward to your next email.
To learn more about email marketing 2.0 and see it firsthand, download the free report now. In the report, you’ll read valuable insights on the most effective email marketing practices and how to elevate your email marketing game.
Think about your email marketing strategy. What holds you back from engaging in a truly engaging, relevant email marketing campaign with your audience? Let’s work on this together.
[Image credit: 1happysnapper]
