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What Makes a Legitimate Email Marketing List? By Justin Banks

January 8, 2010 | Email Marketing, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Marketing

What Makes a Legitimate Email Marketing List? By Justin Banks

A legitimate, ethical email promotion depends on the company making use of a list of names and addresses that were collected within certain standards. Purchased lists do not meet this criteria nor do lists of names harvested off of websites. Sending unrequested commercial email to those addresses is called “spamming” and will ensure that any internet service provider to whom such activity is reported will ban your company from sending email through their servers.

There are several ways one can collect email addresses that are not “tricks” or unethical and that actually provide a valuable service to your customers. The easiest way is with a “Request More Information” form on your website. Business customers who are researching options for their own company and find your products or services interesting will almost certainly make such a request. You can take is to mean that emails from your company are welcome.

Another good option is to get the email address personally while on the phone with customers. Let them know that you have more information to send them and that you’d like to send it via email so they can view it at their leisure. In this instance, you’re truly serving their needs. Instead of keeping them on the phone and, thus, working on your schedule, you’re allowing them the flexibility to spend as much time as they want reviewing your information at a time which is convenient to them. Most clients will appreciate such consideration.

Customers who have purchased from the company in the past are generally safe recipients for promotional emails. They obviously know the company-they may even know you-and it won’t seem impersonal when they receive it. If they’re not interested, they’re unlikely to react in any negative way to being solicited thusly.

Remember that a promotional email is a valuable tool for marketing but not a marketing strategy in and of itself. You may consider designing your email to fit the concerns expressed by your customers. For instance, if you have a lot of customers who say things such as “I really like your product but I wish it worked with barcodes”, you might send out a promotional email to announce that you’ve added barcode integration to your software. Consider maintaining lists of customers sorted by specific needs and concerns to make your emails more effective.

Additionally, there is nothing wrong with using a promotional email to just be friendly. Consider sending a “Happy Holidays” email to clients at the end of the year or during other major holidays. Such little touches of personal attention go a long way toward making your company stand out among the many vendors any business likely uses. Sending greetings via email is a very “green” way to do it: no paper, no fuels used in delivery and no waste.

Email lists, of course, should be kept current. Good email marketing services will give a report of which emails bounced and why. Remove dead addresses from the list immediately.

To effectively manage and deploy great email marketing campaigns, consider iContact. It’s a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. With more than 240,000 businesses and 99.8% email delivery rates, iContact is your best choice for business email marketing software.

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